Gasification of plastics and solid fossil fuels to produce organic compounds

ABSTRACT

Pre-ground plastics of small particle size not more than 2 mm are co-fed into a solid fossil fuel fed entrained flow partial oxidation gasifier. High solids concentrations in the feedstock stream can be obtained without significant impact on the feedstock stream stability and pumpability. A consistent quality of syngas can be continuously produced, including generation of carbon dioxide and a carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio while stably operating the gasifier and avoiding the high tar generation of fluidized bed or fixed bed waste gasifiers and without impacting the operations of the gasifier. The subsequent syngas produced from this material can be used to produce a wide range of chemicals.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/779,999 filed Feb. 3, 2020; which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/800,746 filed on Feb. 4, 2019 and U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/906,799 filed on Sep. 27, 2019, thedisclosures of which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a well-known global issue with waste disposal, particularly oflarge volume consumer products such as plastics, plastics, textiles andother polymers that are not considered biodegradable within acceptabletemporal limits. There is a public desire to incorporate these types ofwastes into renewed products through recycling, reuse, or otherwisereducing the amount of waste in circulation or in landfills.

A variety of means for the recycle, reuse, or reduction of waste stockssuch as biomass, solid municipal waste, plastics, and paper have beenarticulated, among which is the gasification of such waste stocks. Insuch proposals, waste gasifiers, which typically air supplied fluidizedbed gasifiers that can readily accept a variety of component sizes andtypes have been proposed or used. Such waste gasifiers typically operateat low to medium temperatures in the range of 500° C. to 1000° C. usingair as an oxidizer, and given the lower operating temperature,incomplete oxidation reactions occur resulting the generating of highquantities of residues that can appear in both the gas phase (syngasstream) and bottoms solid phase; e.g. tarry substances. The types ofresidues and their quantity will vary depending on the feedstockcomposition. Further, while waste gasifiers have the advantage ofaccepting a highly variable sizes and compositions of feedstocks, theresulting syngas compositions are also widely variable over timerendering them unusable for making chemicals without installation ofexpensive post treatments systems to clean up and purify the syngasstreams existing the gasifier vessel. Even with purification processes,the hydrogen/carbon monoxide/carbon dioxide ratios can remain highlyvariable. As a result of the expense to install systems to purify thesyngas stream exiting the gasifier vessel suitable for chemicalssynthesis, or their compositional variability, or their low throughput,or by reason of a combination of these factors, waste gasifier generatedsyngas streams are typically used to generate energy, e.g. steam orelectricity.

Recycle plastics have been investigated as a feed to a gasifier. Recycleplastics feed are highly variable. The composition of recycle plasticsfeed at any moment in time is variable since plastics feed containsmixed plastics which have differing polymer structures. Even feedsdesignated by polymer type can vary in terms of their molecular weightor structure (e.g. LDPE vs. HDPE). This problem is compounded byvariability in feedstock stream composition over time depending onseasonality, source location, and providers of such recycle plasticsstreams who use a variety of different physical and chemical separationmethods. In fixed bed and fluidized bed gasifiers, this can result in anunacceptable syngas composition variability over time, particularly whenthe syngas is needed to synthesize chemicals which require a veryconsistent rate and quality of syngas or syngas ingredients.

Additionally, plastics have a fixed carbon content that is lower thansolid fossil fuel sources such as coal or petcoke. As a result, plasticswill combust and generate the syngas components at a more rapid ratethan, for example, coal. Carbon monoxide generated from plastic will,therefore, have a longer residence time to convert to carbon dioxideunder gasification conditions, relative to coal. While plastics have ahigh heat value (“HHV”) equal to or exceeding coal, making it anattractive feed to a gasifier, its use can also result in the generationof undesirable amounts of carbon dioxide in the raw syngas stream alongwith a reduction in the amount of carbon monoxide that could have beenproduced by feeding only a fossil fuel. In addition, plastics have ahigher hydrogen content that does, for example, solid fossil fuels,which can lead to the production of higher amounts of hydrogen in theraw syngas stream and affect the carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio. Theseissues are not a concern when syngas is used for generating electricityor burned for heat value, but become a concern when making chemicalssince the manufacture of chemicals relies on carbon monoxide and/orhydrogen as raw materials.

We desire to employ a method of gasification of plastics stream thatwould generate a syngas stream suitable for chemicals synthesis in whichmore complete oxidation of waste feedstocks occurs to reduce thequantity of incomplete oxidation residues. We also desire to generate asyngas stream output from a gasifier vessel which is sufficientlycompositionally consistent over time and suitable for making chemicals,and particularly without the need for blending syngas streams. It isalso desirably to conduct the operations efficiently, in a stablemanner, and on a commercial scale.

While it is desirably to have minimal syngas compositional variationgenerated from feedstocks with solid fossil fuels and a recyclematerial, it is also desirable to have a flexible process in that therecycle material can be fed intermittently (or semi-continuously)without wide variations on the syngas composition between syngasgenerated from feeds with the recycle material and syngas generated fromfeeds without the recycle material.

We have evaluated the use of a coal-water slurry fed gasifier used togenerate syngas for chemical production. The slurry fed coal gasifiergenerally runs at high pressures and utilizes a slurry feed (coal andwater) that can be more easily pumped and fed into the gasifier. A smallamount of water introduced to the gasification process is helpful andneeded (e.g. 5-20%) but more than 30% begins to be detrimental to theperformance of the gasifier as the water must be heated and vaporized,using energy, and takes up space in the processing equipment. Therefore,the slurry should be as concentrated in coal as possible but still fluidenough to pump. The practical range for coal/water slurry concentrationsis 50%-75% coal. To make these concentrations possible, the coal isfinely ground. Introducing a co-feed to the gasifier can be problematicin that the co-feed has to be mixed with the coal/water slurry feed.Since the coal/water slurry is concentrated as much as possible to theedge of pumpability for economic reasons, any introduction of a co-feedcan disrupt the delicate balance and cause the slurry to be unstable(solids settle out), too viscous, two-phase, or otherwise unsuitable forfeeding to the gasifier safely, reliably, and economically. Forexamples, many plastics will float, or phase separate, or agglomerateand disrupt the homogeneity of the slurry.

There remains a need to gasify recycle plastics material in a slurrythat is stable.

There also remains a need to ensure that such slurry is pumpable.

There remains a need to gasify recycle plastics that includes coalwithout generating high amounts of tar, or optionally also high amountsof other incomplete oxidation residues, as would be encountered in fixedor fluidized bed waste gasifiers.

There is also a need to gasify a mixed stream containing recycleplastics to provide a syngas stream with minimal compositionalvariability over time.

There is also a need to provide an intermittent co-feed of recycleplastics with a solid fossil fuel while maintaining a minimal syngascompositional variability over time frames that includes feedstocks withand without the recycle plastics waste material.

There is also a need to generate such syngas streams that are suitablefor making chemicals and optionally but desirably without the need toinstall and operate additional equipment to clean up the syngas streamexiting the gasifier vessel other than acid gas removal processes (e.g.removal of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide) or processes internal tothe gasifier vessel (e.g. quench to remove soot).

There is also a need to solve any combination of the above stated needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is now provided a process for the production of syngas comprising:

-   -   a. charging an oxidant and a feedstock composition to a        gasification zone within a gasifier, said feedstock composition        comprising a solid fossil fuel and less than 5 wt. % plastics        based on the weights of solids in the feedstock composition;    -   b. gasifying the feedstock composition together with the oxidant        in a gasification zone to produce a syngas composition; and    -   c. discharging at least a portion of the syngas composition from        the gasifier; and producing an organic compound from said syngas        composition        wherein the gasifier is an entrained flow gasifier.

There is now provided a process for the production of syngas comprising:

-   -   a. charging an oxidant and a feedstock composition to a        gasification zone within a gasifier, said feedstock composition        comprising a solid fossil fuel and 90 wt. % of the plastics have        a particle size in the largest dimension of not more than 2 mm;    -   b. gasifying the feedstock composition together with the oxidant        in a gasification zone to produce a syngas composition; and    -   c. discharging at least a portion of the syngas composition from        the gasifier; and producing an organic compound from said syngas        composition

There is further provided a process for the production of syngascomprising:

-   -   a. charging an oxidant and a feedstock slurry composition to a        gasification zone within a gasifier, said feedstock slurry        composition comprising plastics, a solid fossil fuel, and water,        wherein either (i) the amount of plastics is less than 5 wt. %        based on the weight of the solids in the feedstock slurry        or (ii) 90 wt. % of the plastics have a particle size in the        largest dimension of not more than 2 mm;    -   b. gasifying the feedstock composition together with the oxidant        in a gasification zone to produce a syngas composition; and    -   c. discharging at least a portion of the syngas composition from        the gasifier, and producing an organic compound from said syngas        composition        wherein at least one of the following conditions is present:    -   (i) gasification within the gasification zone is conducted at a        temperature of at least 1000° C., or    -   (ii) the pressure within the gasification zone greater than 2.7        MPa, or    -   (iii) the feedstock composition is a slurry, or    -   (iv) no steam is introduced to the gasifier that flows into the        gasification zone, or    -   (v) the plastics are pre-ground such that at least 90% of the        particles have a particle size of less than 2 mm, or    -   (vi) the tar yield is less than 4 wt. %, or    -   (vii) the gasifier contains no membrane wall in the gasification        zone, or    -   (viii) a combination of two or more of the above conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plant design for combining recycle plastics andsolid fossil fuel as a feedstock to a gasification process to producesyngas.

FIG. 2 is another example of a plant design for gasifying a feedstock ofrecycle plastics and solid fossil fuel to produce a syngas stream thatis scrubbed.

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of a gasifier injector.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed view of the nozzle section of a gasifierinjector.

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of the locations for adding recycle plasticsto a solid fossil fuel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Unless otherwise stated, reference the weight of the feedstock streamincludes all solids, and if present liquids, fed to the gasifier, andunless otherwise stated, does not include the weight of any gases in thefeedstock stream as fed to the injector or gasifier.

For purposes of classifying materials in the feedstock stream, a fossilfuel used is coal, petcoke, or any other solid at 25° C. and 1atmosphere that is a byproduct from refining oil or petroleum. Thefossil fuel portion of the feedstock stream is to be distinguished fromplastics, even if the plastics are carbonaceous and derived from rawmaterials obtained from refining crude oil.

Generally, in a synthesis gas operation the feedstock stream comprisedof finely particulated fossil fuel sources (e.g. coal, petcoke) andparticulated plastics, and optionally water and other chemicaladditives, are injected along with an oxidizer gas into gasificationreaction zone or chamber of a synthesis gas generator (gasifier). A hotgas stream is produced in the reaction zone, desirably refractory lined,at high temperature and pressure generating a molten slag, ash, soot,and gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and caninclude other gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide and nitrogendepending on the fuel source and reaction conditions. The hot gas streamis produced in the reaction zone is cooled using a syngas cooler or in aquench water bath at the base of the gasifier which also solidifies ashand slag and separates solids from the gases. The quench water bath alsoacts as a seal to maintain the internal temperature and pressure in thegasifier while the slag, soot and ash are removed into a lock hopper.The cooled product gas stream removed from the gasifier (the raw syngasstream) is further treated with plastics to remove remaining solids, andthen further treated to remove acid gas (e.g. hydrogen sulfide) afteroptionally further cooling and shifting the ratio of carbon monoxide tohydrogen.

The plastics employed in the feedstock stream include any organicsynthetic polymers that is solid at 25° C. at 1 atm. The polymers can bethermoplastic or thermosetting polymers. The polymer number averagemolecular weight can be at least 300, or at least 500, or at least 1000,or at least 5,000, or at least 10,000, or at least 20,000, or at least30,000, or at least 50,000 or at least 70,000 or at least 90,000 or atleast 100,000 or at least 130,000. The weight average molecular weightof the polymers can be at least 300, or at least 500, or at least 1000,or at least 5,000, or at least 10,000, or at least 20,000, or at least30,000 or at least 50,000, or at least 70,000, or at least 90,000, or atleast 100,000, or at least 130,000, or at least 150,000, or at least300,000.

The plastics are recycle plastics and can be post-consumer plastics andpost-industrial plastics, also generally known as pre-consumer plastics.Post-consumer plastics are those that have been used at least once forits intended application for any duration of time regardless of wear.Post-industrial or pre-consumer plastics include rework, regrind, scrap,trim, out of specification plastics that have not been used for theirintended application, any plastics that have been synthesized but notused in the finished application, or any plastic that has not been usedby the end consumer.

The form of the plastics useful to be ground, and the pre-groundplastics are obtained from plastic forms that are not limited, and caninclude sheets, extruded shapes, moldings, films, laminates, and foamed.Desirably, textiles are not used as a source for obtaining thepre-ground plastics since many textiles are mixed synthetic and naturalfibers. The plastics can be of varying age and composition.Non-combustible inorganic matter such as metals and minerals thatprevent the plastics from being incinerated and emitted may be containedin the plastics for gasification. Examples include tin, cobalt,manganese, antimony, titanium, sodium, calcium, sulfur, zinc, andaluminum, their oxides and other compounds thereof. Advantageously,titanium and calcium that may be present in the plastics can be slagmodifiers.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the amount of calcium compounds present in the ash ofpre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is at least 30 wt. %, or atleast 40 wt. %, or at least 50 wt. %, or at least 55 wt. %, or at least60 wt. %, or at least 63 wt. %, based on the weight of the plastic ash.The upper amount is desirably not more than 90 wt. %, or not more than80 wt. %, or not more than 75 wt. %, based on the weight of the plasticash.

In another embodiment, the amount of sodium compounds present in the ashof pre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is at least 2 wt. %, or atleast 3 wt. %, or at least 4 wt. %, or at least 5 wt. %, or at least 6wt. %, or at least 7 wt. %, based on the weight of the plastic ash. Theupper amount is desirably not more than 20 wt. %, or not more than 17wt. %, or not more than 15 wt. %, based on the weight of the plasticash.

In another embodiment, the amount of titanium compounds present in theash of pre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is at least 30 wt. %,or at least 40 wt. %, or at least 50 wt. %, or at least 60 wt. %, or atleast 70 wt. %, or at least 75 wt. %, based on the weight of the plasticash. The upper amount is desirably not more than 96 wt. %, or not morethan 90 wt. %, or not more than 86 wt. %, based on the weight of theplastic ash.

In another embodiment, the amount of iron compounds present in the ashof pre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is not more than 20 wt. %,or not more than 15 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or not more than 5wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, or not morethan 1.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the plastic ash.

In another embodiment, the amount of aluminum compounds present in theash of pre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is not more than 20wt. %, or not more than 15 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or not morethan 5 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, or notmore than 1.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the plastic ash.

In another embodiment, the amount of silicon compounds present in theash of pre-grounds plastics used in the feedstock is not more than 20wt. %, or not more than 15 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or not morethan 8 wt. %, or not more than 6 wt. %, based on the weight of theplastic ash.

Examples of plastics (i.e. organic synthetic polymers that are solid at25° C. at 1 atm) include acrylobutadienestyrene (ABS), cellulosics suchas cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate,cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, andregenerated cellulose; epoxy, polyamides, phenolic resins, polyacetal,polycarbonates, polyesters including PET (polyethylene terephthalate)and copolyesters such as those containing residues of TMCD(2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol), CHDM (cyclohexanedimethanol),propylene glycol, or NPG (neopentylglycol) monomers; high densitypolyethylene, low density polyethylene, crosslinked polyethylene,polyphenylene-based alloys, polypropylene and copolymers thereof, otherpolyolefins, polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate),polytetrafluoroethylene, styrenic containing polymers, polyurethane,vinyl-based polymers, styrene acrylonitrile, thermoplastic elastomersother than tires which include thermoplastic elastomers, epoxy, and ureacontaining polymers and melamines.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, theplastics feedstock contains thermosetting polymers. Examples of theamounts of thermosetting polymers present in the plastics feedstock canbe at least 5 wt. %, or at least 10 wt. %, or at least 15 wt. %, or atleast 20 wt. %, or at least 25 wt. %, or at least 30 wt. %, or at least40 wt. %, or at least 50 wt. %, or at least 60 wt. %, or at least 70 wt.%, or at least 80 wt. %, or at least 90 wt. %, or at least 95 wt. %, orat least 97 wt. %, or at least 98 wt. %, or 100 wt. %, based on theweight of all plastics in the feedstock or fed to the gasifier.

Examples of families of articles containing one or more of the abovepolymers that can be size reduced through granulation or pulverization,or can be first densified followed by size reduction of the densifiedmaterial, fed to the gasifier include packaging, engineering plastics,building and construction articles, household and houseware articles,furniture, lawn and garden, and automotive plastics. Examples of typesof articles include bottles (for all types of applications such asbeverage, food, detergents, cosmetics, personal care, etc.), bottlecaps, cigarette filters and rods, eyeglass frames, cups, lids, trays,plumbing pipes (e.g. PBT, PVC, and PEX pipes), cable insulations,sheets, carrier bags, automotive moldings, bedding, seat cushions, seatcovers, beverage machine fronts, fuel tanks, acrylic sheeting, buckets,audio tape, plumbing pipes, septic tanks, toys, cling film, agriculturalfilm, milk carton coatings, electrical cable coating, heavy dutyindustrial bags, sound insulation, helmets, surf boards, stretch film,industrial packaging film, thin-walled containers, crates and boxes, andindustrial wrapping and film, packaging made from flashspun high densitypolyethylene such as used for envelopes or medical packaging or housewrap, building insulation, diapers, sports equipment, eyeglass lenses,CD's and DVD's, food packaging, microwave-proof containers, gardenfurniture, medical packaging and appliances, luggage, and kitchenappliances.

Any of plastics used to make the feedstock to the gasifier can beformulated with the additives and fillers described above that includeplasticizers, waxes, compatibilizers, biodegradation promoters, dyes,pigments, colorants, luster control agents, lubricants, anti-oxidants,viscosity modifiers, antifungal agents, anti-fogging agents, heatstabilizers, impact modifiers, flame retardants, corrosion inhibitors,antibacterial agents, softening agents, fragrances, and mold releaseagents.

Any of plastics used to make the feedstock to the gasifier can beformulated with the additives and fillers that include plasticizers,waxes, compatibilizers, biodegradation promoters, dyes, pigments,colorants, luster control agents, lubricants, anti-oxidants, viscositymodifiers, antifungal agents, anti-fogging agents, heat stabilizers,impact modifiers, flame retardants, corrosion inhibitors, antibacterialagents, softening agents, fragrances, and mold release agents.

The plasticizer reduces the melt temperature, the Tg, and/or the meltviscosity of the polymer used to make the plastic articles. Examples ofplasticizers include phosphate plasticizers, benzoate plasticizers,adipate plasticizer, phthalate plasticizer, a glycolic acid ester, acitric acid ester plasticizer and a hydroxyl-functional plasticizer.More specifically, examples of plasticizers include triphenyl phosphate,tricresyl phosphate, cresyldiphenyl phosphate, octyldiphenyl phosphate,diphenylbiphenyl phosphate, trioctyl phosphate, tributyl phosphate,diethyl phthalate, dimethoxyethyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate, dioctylphthalate, dibutyl phthalate, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, butylbenzylphthalate, dibenzyl phthalate, butyl phthalyl butyl glycolate, ethylphthalyl ethyl glycolate, methyl phthalyl ethyl glycolate, triethylcitrate, tri-n-butyl citrate, acetyltriethyl citrate, acetyl-tri-n-butylcitrate, and acetyl-tri-n-(2-ethylhexyl) citrate, triacetin (glyceroltriacetate), diethylene glycol diacetate, triethylene glycol diacetate,and tripropionin, diethylene glycol dibenzoate, rosin; hydrogenatedrosin; stabilized rosin, and their monofunctional alcohol esters orpolyol esters; a modified rosin including, but not limited to, maleic-and phenol-modified rosins and their esters; terpene resins;phenol-modified terpene resins; coumarin-indene resins; phenolic resins;alkylphenol-acetylene resins; and phenol-formaldehyde resins.

Some examples of plasticizers are those that are biodegradable. Examplesof these plasticizers include triacetin, triethyl citrate, acetyltriethyl citrate, polyethylene glycol, the benzoate containingplasticizers such as the Benzoflex™ plasticizer series, poly (alkylsuccinates) such as poly (butyl succinate), polyethersulfones, adipatebased plasticizers, soybean oil expoxides such as the Paraplex™plasticizer series, sucrose based plasticizers, dibutyl sebacate,tributyrin, sucrose acetate isobutyrate, the Resolflex™ series ofplasticizers, triphenyl phosphate, glycolates,2,2,4-trimethylpentane-1,3-diyl bis(2-methylpropanoate), andpolycaprolactones.

The amount of plasticizer in the polymer used to make the plasticarticles can range from about 0.5 to about 50 weight percent based onthe weight of the polymer. Other ranges can be from about 5 to about 35weight percent based on the weight of the polymer, from about 5 to about30, and from about 10 to about 20.

Waxes have also been used to increase firmness. See, for example, U.S.Pat. No. 2,904,050, incorporated herein by reference.

The compatibilizer can be either a non-reactive compatibilizer or areactive compatibilizer. The compatibilizer can enhance the ability ofthe first polymer to reach a desired small particle size to improve thedispersion of the first polymer into a second polymer, such as into anelastomer. The compatibilizers used can also improve mechanical andphysical properties of the elastomeric composition compositions byimproving the interfacial interaction/bonding between a first polymerand an elastomer or a second polymer.

The amount of compatibilizer in the polymer can range from about 1 wt %to about 40 wt %, from about 5 wt % to about 20 wt %, or about 10 toabout 20 wt % based on the weight of the polymer.

If desired, biodegradation and decomposition agents, e.g. hydrolysisassistant or any intentional degradation promoter additives can be addedto or contained in the polymer, added either during manufacture of thepolymer or subsequent to its manufacture and melt or solvent blendedtogether. Those additives can promote hydrolysis by releasing acidic orbasic residues, and/or accelerate photo (UV) or oxidative degradationand/or promote the growth of selective microbial colony to aid thedisintegration and biodegradation in compost and soil medium. Inaddition to promoting the degradation, these additives can have anadditional function such as improving the processability of the articleor improving mechanical properties.

One set of examples of decomposition agents include inorganic carbonate,synthetic carbonate, nepheline syenite, talc, magnesium hydroxide,aluminum hydroxide, diatomaceous earth, natural or synthetic silica,calcined clay, and the like. If used, it is desirable that these fillersare dispersed well in the polymer matrix. The fillers can be usedsingly, or in a combination of two or more.

Another set of examples is aromatic ketones used as an oxidativedecomposition agent, including benzophenone, anthraquinone, anthrone,acetylbenzophenone, 4-octylbenzophenone, and the like. These aromaticketones may be used singly, or in a combination of two or more.

Other examples include transition metal compounds used as oxidativedecomposition agents, such as salts of cobalt or magnesium, preferablyaliphatic carboxylic acid (C12 to C20) salts of cobalt or magnesium, andmore preferably cobalt stearate, cobalt oleate, magnesium stearate, andmagnesium oleate; or anatase-form titanium dioxide, or titanium dioxidemay be used. Mixed phase titanium dioxide particles may be used in whichboth rutile and anatase crystalline structures are present in the sameparticle. The particles of photoactive agent can have a relatively highsurface area, for example from about 10 to about 300 sq. m/g, or from 20to 200 sq. m/g, as measured by the BET surface area method. Thephotoactive agent can be added to the plasticizer if desired. Thesetransition metal compounds can be used singly, or in a combination oftwo or more.

Examples of rare earth compounds used as an oxidative decompositionagent include rare earths belonging to periodic table Group 3A, andoxides thereof. Specific examples thereof include cerium (Ce), yttrium(Y), neodymium (Nd), rare earth oxides, hydroxides, rare earth sulfates,rare earth nitrates, rare earth acetates, rare earth chlorides, rareearth carboxylates, and the like. More specific examples thereof includecerium oxide, ceric sulfate, ceric ammonium sulfate, ceric ammoniumnitrate, cerium acetate, lanthanum nitrate, cerium chloride, ceriumnitrate, cerium hydroxide, cerium octylate, lanthanum oxide, yttriumoxide, Scandium oxide, and the like. These rare earth compounds may beused singly, or in a combination of two or more.

Examples of basic additives used as an oxidative decomposition agentinclude alkaline earth metal oxides, alkaline earth metal hydroxides,alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkali metal carbonates, alkali metalbicarbonates, ZηO and basic Al2O3. At least one basic additive can beMgO, Mg(OH)2, MgCO3, CaO, Ca(OH)2, CaCO3, NaHCO3, Na2CO3, K2CO3, ZrOKHCO3 or basic Al2O3. In one aspect, alkaline earth metal oxides, ZrOand basic A1203 can be used as a basic additive.

Examples of organic acid additives used as an oxidative decompositionagent include acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid,citric acid, tartaric acid, oxalic acid, malic acid, benzoic acid,formate, acetate, propionate, butyrate, valerate citrate, tartarate,oxalate, malate, maleic acid, maleate, phthalic acid, phthalate,benzoate, and combinations thereof.

Examples of other hydrophilic polymer or biodegradation promoter mayinclude glycols, polyethers, and polyalcohols or other biodegradablepolymers such as poly(glycolic acid), poly(lactic acid), polydioxanes,polyoxalates, poly(α-esters), polycarbonates, polyanhydrides,polyacetals, polycaprolactones, poly(orthoesters), polyamino acids,aliphatic polyesters such as poly(butylene)succinate,poly(ethylene)succinate, starch, regenerated cellulose, oraliphatic-aromatic polyesters such as PBAT.

Colorants can include carbon black, iron oxides such as red or blue ironoxides, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, cadmium red, calciumcarbonate, kaolin clay, aluminum hydroxide, barium sulfate, zinc oxide,aluminum oxide; and organic pigments such as azo and disazo and triazopigments, condensed azo, azo lakes, naphthol pigments, anthrapyrimidine,benzimidazolone, carbazole, diketopyrrolopyrrole, flavanthrone, indigoidpigments, isoindolinone, isoindoline, isoviolanthrone, metal complexpigments, oxazine, perylene, perinone, pyranthrone, pyrazoloquinazolone,quinophthalone, triarylcarbonium pigments, triphendioxazine, xanthene,thioindigo, indanthrone, isoindanthrone, anthanthrone, anthraquinone,isodibenzanthrone, triphendioxazine, quinacridone and phthalocyanineseries, especially copper phthalocyanme and its nuclear halogenatedderivatives, and also lakes of acid, basic and mordant dyes, andisoindolinone pigments, as well as plant and vegetable dyes, and anyother available colorant or dye.

Luster control agents for adjusting the glossiness and fillers includesilica, talc, clay, barium sulfate, barium carbonate, calcium sulfate,calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and the like.

Suitable flame retardants include silica, metal oxides, phosphates,catechol phosphates, resorcinol phosphates, borates, inorganic hydrates,and aromatic polyhalides.

Antifungal and/or antibacterial agents include polyene antifungals(e.g., natamycin, rimocidin, filipin, nystatin, amphotericin B,candicin, and hamycin), imidazole antifungals such as miconazole(available as MICATIN® from WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corporation),ketoconazole (commercially available as NIZORAL® from McNeil consumerHealthcare), clotrimazole (commercially available as LOTRAMIN® andLOTRAMIN AF® available from Merck and CANESTEN® available from Bayer),econazole, omoconazole, bifonazole, butoconazole, fenticonazole,isoconazole, oxiconazole, sertaconazole (commercially available asERTACZO® from OrthoDematologics), sulconazole, and tioconazole; triazoleantifungals such as fluconazole, itraconazole, isavuconazole,ravuconazole, posaconazole, voriconazole, terconazole, andalbaconazole), thiazole antifungals (e.g., abafungin), allylamineantifungals (e.g., terbinafine (commercially available as LAMISIL® fromNovartis Consumer Health, Inc.), naftifine (commercially available asNAFTIN® available from Merz Pharmaceuticals), and butenafine(commercially available as LOTRAMIN ULTRA® from Merck), echinocandinantifungals (e.g., anidulafungin, caspofungin, and micafungin),polygodial, benzoic acid, ciclopirox, tolnaftate (e.g., commerciallyavailable as TINACTIN® from MDS Consumer Care, Inc.), undecylenic acid,flucytosine, 5-fluorocytosine, griseofulvin, haloprogin, caprylic acid,and any combination thereof.

Viscosity modifiers in modifying the melt flow index or viscosity of thepolymer, and include polyethylene glycols and polypropylene glycols, andglycerin.

Fragrances can be added if desired. Examples of fragrances includespices, spice extracts, herb extracts, essential oils, smelling salts,volatile organic compounds, volatile small molecules, methyl formate,methyl acetate, methyl butyrate, ethyl acetate, ethyl butyrate, isoamylacetate, pentyl butyrate, pentyl pentanoate, octyl acetate, myrcene,geraniol, nerol, citral, citronellal, citronellol, linalool, nerolidol,limonene, camphor, terpineol, alpha-ionone, thujone, benzaldehyde,eugenol, isoeugenol, cinnamaldehyde, ethyl maltol, vanilla, vannillin,cinnamyl alcohol, anisole, anethole, estragole, thymol, furaneol,methanol, rosemary, lavender, citrus, freesia, apricot blossoms, greens,peach, jasmine, rosewood, pine, thyme, oakmoss, musk, vetiver, myrrh,blackcurrant, bergamot, grapefruit, acacia, passiflora, sandalwood,tonka bean, mandarin, neroli, violet leaves, gardenia, red fruits,ylang-ylang, acacia farnesiana, mimosa, tonka bean, woods, ambergris,daffodil, hyacinth, narcissus, black currant bud, iris, raspberry, lilyof the valley, sandalwood, vetiver, cedarwood, neroli, strawberry,carnation, oregano, honey, civet, heliotrope, caramel, coumarin,patchouli, dewberry, helonial, coriander, pimento berry, labdanum,cassie, aldehydes, orchid, amber, orris, tuberose, palmarosa, cinnamon,nutmeg, moss, styrax, pineapple, foxglove, tulip, wisteria, clematis,ambergris, gums, resins, civet, plum, castoreum, civet, myrrh, geranium,rose violet, jonquil, spicy carnation, galbanum, petitgrain, iris,honeysuckle, pepper, raspberry, benzoin, mango, coconut, hesperides,castoreum, osmanthus, mousse de chene, nectarine, mint, anise, cinnamon,orris, apricot, plumeria, marigold, rose otto, narcissus, tolu balsam,frankincense, amber, orange blossom, bourbon vetiver, opopanax, whitemusk, papaya, sugar candy, jackfruit, honeydew, lotus blossom, muguet,mulberry, absinthe, ginger, juniper berries, spicebush, peony, violet,lemon, lime, hibiscus, white rum, basil, lavender, balsamics,fo-ti-tieng, osmanthus, karo karunde, white orchid, calla lilies, whiterose, rhubrum lily, tagetes, ambergris, ivy, grass, seringa, spearmint,clary sage, cottonwood, grapes, brimbelle, lotus, cyclamen, orchid,glycine, tiare flower, ginger lily, green osmanthus, passion flower,blue rose, bay rum, cassie, African tagetes, Anatolian rose, Auvergnenarcissus, British broom, British broom chocolate, Bulgarian rose,Chinese patchouli, Chinese gardenia, Calabrian mandarin, Comoros Islandtuberose, Ceylonese cardamom, Caribbean passion fruit, Damascena rose,Georgia peach, white Madonna lily, Egyptian jasmine, Egyptian marigold,Ethiopian civet, Farnesian cassie, Florentine iris, French jasmine,French jonquil, French hyacinth, Guinea oranges, Guyana wacapua, Grassepetitgrain, Grasse rose, Grasse tuberose, Haitian vetiver, Hawaiianpineapple, Israeli basil, Indian sandalwood, Indian Ocean vanilla,Italian bergamot, Italian iris, Jamaican pepper, May rose, Madagascarylang-ylang, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan jasmine, Moroccan rose,Moroccan oakmoss, Moroccan orange blossom, Mysore sandalwood, Orientalrose, Russian leather, Russian coriander, Sicilian mandarin, SouthAfrican marigold, South American tonka bean, Singapore patchouli,Spanish orange blossom, Sicilian lime, Reunion Island vetiver, Turkishrose, Thai benzoin, Tunisian orange blossom, Yugoslavian oakmoss,Virginian cedarwood, Utah yarrow, West Indian rosewood, and the like,and any combination thereof.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from cellulosics, such as cellulose derivates having anacyl degree of substitution of less than 3, or 1.8 to 2.8, such ascellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, celluloseacetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from polymers having repeating terephthalate units, such aspolyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene terephthalate, polybutyleneterephthalate, and copolyesters thereof.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from copolyesters having multiple dicyclohexane dimethanolmoeities, 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol moieties, orcombinations thereof.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene,linear low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polymethylpentene,polybutene-1, and copolymers thereof.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from high density polyethylene or fuel tanks.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from eyeglass frames.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from crosslinked polyethylene. An example of the feedstockis one which is obtained from or includes crosslinked polyethylene pipesor size reduced portions thereof. Crosslinked polyethylene is alsocommonly referred to as PEX. Its structure contains cross-linked bondsin the polymer to convert the thermoplastic polyethylene to a polymerwhich has more thermosetting characteristic. In one embodiment or incombination with any of the mentioned embodiments or in combination withany of the mentioned embodiments, or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, the cross-linked polyethylene is a thermosetpolymer. The crosslinked polyethylene can be obtained by crosslinkingany polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE), but typically is obtained bycrosslinking low density polyethylene. The method of crosslinking is notlimited, and can be accomplished during and after extrusion. The degreeof crosslinking can be at least 50%. In one embodiment or in combinationwith any of the mentioned embodiments or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the degree of crosslinking satisfied ASTM F876. In oneembodiment or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments or incombination with any of the mentioned embodiments, or in combinationwith any of the mentioned embodiments, the degree of crosslinking isfrom 60 to 92%, or from 65 to 89%.

The cross-linking methods may be by irradiating a tube with an electronbeam, the Engel crosslinking method by mixing a peroxide with thepolyethylene and crosslinking occurring before extrusion as in the longdie. Crosslinking the polyethylene can also be accomplished in a silaneor vinylsilane based process or in an azo based process. The types ofcrosslinked polyethylene include PE-Xa (peroxide crosslinked with atleast 75% crosslinking), PE-Xb (moisture cure or silane based with atleast 65% crosslinking), PE-Xc (electron beam based with at least 60%crosslinking), and PE-Xd (azo based with at least 60% crosslinking).

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from plastic bottles.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from diapers.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from Styrofoam, or expanded polystyrene.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from flashspun high density polyethylene.

Suitable recycle plastics (i.e. organic synthetic polymers that aresolid at 25° C. at 1 atm.) include those having or classified within aresin ID code numbered 1-7 within the chasing arrow triangle establishedby the SPI. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, at least a portion of the feedstock to thegasifier, or at least a portion of the plastic recycle fed to thegasifier, contains one or more plastics that are not generally recycled.These would include plastics having numbers 3 (polyvinyl chloride), 5(polypropylene), 6 (polystyrene), and 7 (other). In one embodiment or incombination with any of the mentioned embodiments, the recycle plasticsfed to the gasifier, or at least a portion of the feedstock, containsless than 10 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %,or not more than 2 wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.5wt. %, or not more than 0.2 wt. %, or not more than 0.1 wt. %, or notmore and 0.05 wt. % plastics having or corresponding to number 3designation (polyvinyl chloride), or optionally plastics with a number 3and 6 designation, or optionally with a number 3, 6 and 7 designation,based on the weight of all plastics fed to the gasifier or gasificationzone. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the recycle plastics fed to the gasifier, or at least aportion of the feedstock, contains at least 1 wt. %, or at least 2 wt.%, or at least 3 wt. %, or at least 5 wt. %, or at least 7 wt. %, or atleast 10 wt. %, or at least 12 wt. %, or at least 15 wt. %, or at least20 wt. %, or at least 25 wt. %, or at least 30 wt. %, or at least 40 wt.%, or at least or more than 50 wt. %, or at least 65 wt. %, or at least85 wt. %, or at least 90 wt. % plastics having or corresponding to anumber 5, or a number 6, or a number 7, or a combination thereof, basedon the weight of the plastics in the feedstock or fed to the gasifier orgasification zone. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, the waste plastic-containing feed can comprise atleast 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, or 99weight percent of at least one, two, three, or four different kinds ofresin ID codes. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, the waste plastic-containing feed contains lessthan 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, or 1 weight percent of polyvinyl chloride.

One of the advantages of gasifying plastics are that many plastics thatwould otherwise be landfilled because they cannot be re-melted (e.g.ground and melt extruded to renewed articles) can now be recycled andmade into renewed products. An example of such a plastic is a thermosetplastic. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichcannot be melt extruded into a renewed product.

One of the advantages of gasifying plastics are that many plastics thatwould otherwise be landfilled because they cannot or are notmechanically recycled due to the presence of an additive, coating, ordye/pigment can now be recycled and made into renewed products. Forexample, some plastics which are heavily dyed, or contain additives thatare suited for only a limited kind of application, or have coatings canall impair the functionality or appearance of renewed products. Otherplastics are typically not mechanically recycled through a process inwhich the plastic is melted because they are difficult to chop,granulate, or pulverize without first going through the step ofdensification, which adds costs. These plastics that are typically notmechanically recycled have a Resin ID code of 4, 5, 6, or 7, orcombinations thereof.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichcannot or are not mechanically recycled, optionally within a 10 mileradius of the gasifier, or within a 50 mile, or within a 100 mile, orwithin a 150 mile, or within a 200 mile, or within a 250 mile, or withina 300 mile, or within a 400 mile, or within a 500 mile, or within a 600mile, or within a 700 mile, or within a 800 mile, or within a 1000 mile,or within a 1250 mile, or within a 1500 mile, or within a 2000 mileradius of the gasifier, or within the same province, state, or countryas the location of the gasifier.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from polymers that are colored with a pigment or dye,optionally other than black.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from articles having a layer of a label that is sizereduced with the label.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock contains plastics at least a portion of whichare obtained from articles that are not mechanically recycled due to thepresence of an additive in article.

The source for obtaining post-consumer or post-industrial waste is notlimited. A post-consumer plastic source can include plastic present inand/or separated from municipal solid waste streams (“MSW”). Forexample, an MSW stream can be processed and sorted to several discretecomponents, including textiles, fibers, mixed plastics, papers, wood,glass, metals, etc. Other sources of plastics include those obtained bycollection agencies, or by or for or on behalf of plastics brand ownersor consortiums or organizations, or from brokers, or from postindustrialsources such as scrap from mills or commercial production facilities,unsold fabrics from wholesalers or dealers, from mechanical and/orchemical sorting or separation facilities, from landfills, or strandedon docks or ships.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, at least a portion of the plastics in the feedstock, or thefeedstock to the gasifier or gasification zone, contains or is obtainedfrom cellulosic material. Examples of plastics that are cellulosicsinclude cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate,cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, regeneratedcellulose such a viscose, rayon, and Lyocel™ products. These cellulosicscan be in any form, such as films, sheets, molded or stamped products,and contained in or on any article. Examples of articles containingcellulosics that can be contained in the feedstock or fed to thegasifier or gasification zone include ophthalmic products such aseyeglass frames, tool handles such as screwdriver handles, optical filmssuch as used in the displayers or televisions, computers, mobile phones,photographic film, coatings, buttons, and toys including buildingbricks. Desirably, the plastics contain low levels or no halidecontaining polymers, in particular polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylfluoride, polyvinylidene fluoride, and polytetrafluoroethane, and otherfluorinated or chlorinated polymers. The release of chlorine or fluorineelements or radicals over time can impact the longevity of refractorylining on gasifiers operating at high temperature and pressure. In oneembodiment or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, theplastics contain less than 10 wt. %, or not more than 8 wt. %, or notmore than 6 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %, or not more than 4 wt. %,or not more than 3.5 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not more than2.5 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, or not more than 1.5 wt. %, or notmore than 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.5 wt. %, or not more than 0.25 wt.%, or not more than 0.1 wt. %, or not more than 0.05 wt. %, or not morethan 0.01 wt. % halide containing polymers, based on the weight of theplastics. Desirably, the halide minimized or excluded is chlorine orfluorine.

The plastics, as a co-fuel in a feedstock stream, have the advantage ofnot requiring thermal treatment prior to their introduction into thegasification zone or their introduction to one or more components of afeedstock stream. Unlike wood or grain which typically requires athermal treatment beyond drying such as torrefaction, the pre-groundplastics (those ground to the final size as combined into the feedstockstream) are not pyrolized or torrefied prior to their introduction intothe gasifier, and desirably, the pre-ground plastics are not obtainedfrom a source of plastics which have been pyrolized or torrefied. Inanother embodiment, the pre-ground plastics are not obtained frompost-consumer plastics or post-industrial plastics which, after theconsumer or industrial manufacture stage, are melted or extruded, anddesirably the pre-ground plastics are not melted or extruded prior totheir entry into the gasifier. In another embodiment, the post-consumeror postindustrial plastics, after shredding or any type of granulation,are not melted or extruded or receive a thermal treatment above theirpyrolysis temperature, or above 150° C., or above 110° C., or above 100°C., or above 90° C., or above 80° C., or above 60° C., or above 58° C.or above their nominal temperature at their ambient conditions prior totheir introduction into the gasification zone. It is to be noted thatthe pre-ground plastics can be dried before their introduction into thefeedstock stream, however, this would not be necessary in a slurry-basedfeedstock stream.

There is also provided a circular manufacturing process comprising:

-   -   1. providing a recycle plastic, and    -   2. size reducing said plastic to make a pre-ground recycle        plastic, and    -   3. gasifying said pre-ground plastic to produce a recycle        plastic derived syngas, and    -   4. either        -   (i) reacting said recycle plastic derived syngas to make a            recycle content intermediate, polymer, or article (Recycle            PIA) each of which have their origin at least in part to            said recycle plastic derived syngas or        -   (ii) assigning a recycle content allotment, obtained from            recycle plastic or pre-ground plastic, to an intermediate,            plastic or polymer to produce a Recycle PIA; and    -   5. optionally, taking back at least a portion of said Recycle        PIA as a feedstock to said gasification process step (i), or        (ii), or (iii).

In the above described process, an entirely circular or closed loopprocess is provided in which plastics can be recycled multiple times tomake the same family or classification of plastics.

In this or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, theallotment can be assigned to an intermediate, plastic or polymer toproduce a Recycle PIA directly from a recycle content value taken fromthe recycle plastic or pre-ground plastics or from the step of gasifyinga feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and recycle plastics orpre-ground plastics, or the allotment can be assigned to theintermediate, plastic or polymer to product a recycle PIA indirectly byassigning the recycle content value taken from a recycle inventory intowhich recycle content value is deposited from the recycle contentpresent in the recycle plastic or in the pre-ground plastics or the stepof gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and recycleplastics or pre-ground plastics.

In one embodiment, the Recycle PIA is a plastic of the same family orclassification of plastics as the recycle plastic used in step (i).

In one embodiment, a Recycle PIA can be made by a process in whichrecycled plastics are gasified according to any of the processesdescribed herein.

There is also provided a circular manufacturing process comprising:

-   -   1. A manufacturer of syngas, or one among its Family of        Entities, or an entity contracted with either of them        (collectively the “Recipient”), receiving recycle plastics        (whether postindustrial or post-consumer), optionally and        desirably from an industrial supplier of said plastic or        articles containing said plastic, and    -   2. One or more of the Recipients size reducing said plastic        (optionally first densifying said plastics, such as in the form        of agglomerates or extrudates, followed by size reduction or        coarse size reduction/densification/finer size reduction) to        make a pre-ground recycle plastic, and    -   3. One or more of the Recipients gasifying said pre-ground        plastic to produce a recycle plastic derived syngas, and    -   4. either        -   (i) reacting said recycle plastic derived syngas to make a            recycle content intermediate, polymer, or article (Recycle            PIA) each of which have their origin at least in part to            said recycle plastic derived syngas or        -   (ii) assigning a recycle content allotment, obtained from            recycle plastic or pre-ground plastic, to an intermediate,            plastic or polymer to thereby produce a Recycle PIA; and    -   5. optionally, furnishing at least a portion of said Recycle PIA        to said industrial supplier, or to an entity contracted with        said industrial supplier or with one among the Family of        Entities of the industrial supplier for the supply of said        Recycle PIA or an article made with said Recycle PIA.

In this or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, theallotment can be assigned to an intermediate, plastic or polymer toproduce a Recycle PIA directly from a recycle content value taken fromthe recycle plastic or pre-ground plastics or from the step of gasifyinga feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and recycle plastics orpre-ground plastics, or the allotment can be assigned to theintermediate, plastic or polymer to product a recycle PIA indirectly byassigning the recycle content value taken from a recycle inventory intowhich recycle content value is deposited from the recycle contentpresent in the recycle plastic or in the pre-ground plastics or the stepof gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and recycleplastics or pre-ground plastics.

the above described process, an entirely circular or closed loop processis provided in which plastics can be recycled multiple times to make thesame family or classification of plastics. The industrial supplier mayfurnish a processor entity with the plastic or articles containing theplastic to process those plastics or articles into a form suitable ormore suitable for gasification as further described herein to makepre-ground plastics or precursors to pre-ground plastics such asagglomerates, extrudates, chips, etc., and in turn, the processor entitysupplies the pre-ground plastics or precursors thereof to themanufacturer of syngas or one among its Family of Entities who caneither feed to pre-ground plastics as such to a feedstock stream to agasifier, or can further process the precursors or pre-ground plasticsinto a final size suitable for gasification by any suitable process,such as pulverization or grinding. The gasification processes,equipment, and designs used can be any of those mentioned herein. Thesyngas made using feedstocks containing the pre-ground plastics can theneither by converted through a reaction scheme to make Recycle PIA, orthe allotments created by such gasification step can be stored in aninventory of allotments, and from the inventory of allotments from anysource, a portion thereof can be withdrawn and assigned to anintermediate, polymer or article to make Recycle PIA. To close thecircularity of the plastic, at least a portion of the Recycle PIA can byfurnished to the industrial supplier of the plastics or articles, or itcan be supplied to any entity contracted with the industrial supplier toprocess the Recycle PIA into a different form, different size, or tocombine with other ingredients or plastics (e.g. compounders and/orsheet extruders), or to make articles containing the PIA, for supply toor on behalf of the industrial supplier. The Recycle PIA furnished tothe industrial supplier or one of its contracted entities is desirablyin the same family or type of plastic as the plastic or articlecontaining the plastic was supplied by the industrial supplier to theRecipient.

A “recycle content allotment” or “allotment” means a recycle contentvalue that is:

-   -   a. transferred from a recycle waste (which is any recycle waste        stream whether or not it contains recycle plastics) to a        receiving composition (e.g., compound, polymer, article,        intermediate, feedstock, product, or stream) that may or may not        have a physical component that is traceable to the recycle        waste; or    -   b. deposited into a recycle inventory at least a portion of        which originates from recycle waste.

The recycle content value (whether by mass or percentage or any otherunit of measure) can optionally be determined according to a standardsystem for tracking, allocating, and/or crediting recycle content amongvarious compositions.

A “recycle content value” is a unit of measure representative of aquantity of material having its origin in recycle plastic or pre-groundplastic. The recycle content value can have its origin in any type ofrecycled plastic or any recycle plastic processed in any type of processbefore being gasified.

The particular recycle content value can be determined by a mass balanceapproach or a mass ratio or percentage or any other unit of measure andcan be determined according to any system for tracking, allocating,and/or crediting recycle content among various compositions. A recyclecontent value can be deducted from a recycle inventory and applied to aproduct or composition to attribute recycle content to the product orcomposition. A recycle content value does not have to originate fromgasifying recycle plastic, and can be a unit of measure having its knownor unknown origin in any technology used to process recycle plastic. Inone embodiment, at least a portion of the recycle plastics from which anallotment is obtained is also gasified as described throughout the oneor more embodiments herein; e.g. combined with a fossil fuel andsubjected to gasification.

In one embodiment, at least a portion of the recycle content allotmentor allotment or recycle value deposited into a recycle content inventoryis obtained from recycle plastic or pre-ground plastics. Desirably, atleast 60%, or at least 70%, or at least 80%, or at least 90% or at least95%, or up to 100% of the:

-   -   a. allotments or    -   b. deposits into the recycle inventory, or    -   c. recycle content value in the recycle inventory, or    -   d. recycle content value applied to compositions to make Recycle        PIA        are obtained from recycle plastic or pre-ground plastics.

A recycle content allotment can include a recycle content allocation ora recycle content credit obtained with the transfer or use of a rawmaterial. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the polymer, intermediate, composition, article or streamreceiving the recycle content allotment can be or contain a portion of anon-recycle composition (e.g., compound, polymer, feedstock, product, orstream). A “non-recycle” means a composition (e.g., compound, polymer,feedstock, product, or stream) none of which was directly or indirectlyderived from recycled waste of any kind, including plastic.

A “recycle content allocation” and “allocation” mean a type of recyclecontent allotment, where the entity or person supplying a compositionsells or transfers the composition to the receiving person or entity,and the person or entity that made the composition has an allotment atleast a portion of which can be associated with the composition sold ortransferred by the supplying person or entity to the receiving person orentity. The supplying entity or person can be controlled by the sameentity or person(s) or a variety of affiliates that are ultimatelycontrolled or owned at least in part by a parent entity (“Family ofEntities”), or they can be from a different Family of Entities.Generally, a recycle content allocation travels with a composition andwith the downstream derivates of the composition. An allocation may bedeposited into a recycle inventory and withdrawn from the recycleinventory as an allocation and applied to a composition to make aRecycle PIA.

A “recycle content credit” and “credit” mean a type of recycle contentallotment, where the allotment is available for sale or transfer or use,or is sold or transferred or used, either:

-   -   a. without the sale of a composition, or    -   b. with the sale or transfer of a composition but the allotment        is not associated the sale or transfer of the composition, or    -   c. is deposited into or withdrawn from a recycle inventory that        does not track the molecules of a recycle content feedstock to        the molecules of the resulting compositions which were made with        the recycle content feedstocks, or which does have such tracking        capability but which did not track the particular allotment as        applied to a composition.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, an allocation may be deposited into a recycle inventory,and a credit may be withdrawn from the inventory and applied to acomposition to make a Recycle PIA. This would be the case where anallocation is created from a recycle plastic and deposited into arecycle inventory, and deducting a recycle content value from therecycle inventory and applying it to a composition to make a Recycle PIAthat either has no portion originating from syngas or does have aportion originating from syngas but such syngas making up the portion ofthe composition was not a recycle content syngas. In this system, oneneed not trace the source of a reactant compound or composition back tothe manufacture of recycle derived syngas stream or back to any atomscontained in the recycle derived syngas stream, but rather can use anyreactant compound or composition made by any process and have associatedwith such reactant compound or composition, or have associated with theRecycle PIA, a recycle content allotment. In an embodiment, the RecyclePIA reactants (the compositions used to make Recycle PIA or thecompositions to which an allotment is applied) do not contain recyclecontent.

In one embodiment, the composition receiving an allotment to make aRecycle PIA originates in part from a syngas stream obtained by anygasification process. The feedstock to the gasification process mayoptionally contain solid fossil fuel such as coal. The feedstock mayoptionally also contain a combination of solid fossil fuel and recycleplastics or pre-ground plastics. In one embodiment, there is provided aprocess in which:

-   -   a. a recycle plastic is obtained,    -   b. a recycle content value (or allotment) is obtained from the        recycle plastic and        -   i. deposited into a recycle inventory, and an allotment (or            credit) is withdrawn from the recycle inventory and applied            to a composition to obtain a Recycle PIA, or        -   ii. applied to a composition to obtain a Recycle PIA; and    -   c. at least a portion of the recycle plastic is subjected to a        gasification process, optionally by combining it with a solid        fossil fuel as a feedstock to a gasifier, optionally according        to any of the designs or processes described herein; and    -   d. optionally at least a portion of the composition in step b.        originates from a syngas stream, optionally the syngas stream        having been obtained by any of the feedstocks and methods        described herein.

The steps b. and c. do not have to occur simultaneously. In oneembodiment, they occur within a year of each other, or within six (6)months of each other, or within three (3) months of each other, orwithin one (1) month of each other, or within two (2) weeks of eachother, or within one (1) week of each other, or within three (3) days ofeach other. The process allows for a time lapse between the time anentity or person receiving the recycle plastic and creating theallotment (which can occur upon receipt or ownership of the recycleplastic) and the actual processing of the recycle plastic in a gasifier.

As used herein, “recycle inventory” and “inventory” mean a group orcollection of allotments (allocations or credits) from which depositsand deductions of allotments in any units can be tracked. The inventorycan be in any form (electronic or paper), using any or multiple softwareprograms, or using a variety of modules or applications that together asa whole tracks the deposits and deductions. Desirably, the total amountof recycle content withdrawn (or applied to the Recycle PIA) does notexceed the total amount of recycle content allotments or credits ondeposit in the recycle inventory (from any source, not only fromgasification of recycle plastics). However, if a deficit of recyclecontent value is realized, the recycle content inventory is rebalancedto achieve a zero or positive recycle content value available. Thetiming for rebalancing can be either determined and managed inaccordance with the rules of a particular system of accreditationadopted by the recycle content syngas manufacturer or by one among itsFamily of Entities, or alternatively, is rebalanced within one (1) year,or within six (6) months, or within three (3) months, or within one (1)month of realizing the deficit. The timing for depositing an allotmentinto the recycle inventory, applying an allotment (or credit) to acomposition to make a Recycle PIA, and gasifying a recycle plastic, neednot be simultaneous or in any particular order. In one embodiment, thestep of gasifying a particular volume of recycle plastics occurs afterthe recycle content value or allotment from that volume of recycleplastic is deposited into a recycle inventory. Further, the allotmentsor recycle content values withdrawn from the recycle inventory need notbe traceable to recycle plastics or gasifying recycle plastics, butrather can be obtained from any waste recycle stream, and from anymethod of processing the recycle waste stream. Desirably, at least aportion of the recycle content value in the recycle inventory isobtained from recycle plastics, and optionally at least a portion ofrecycle plastics are processed in the one or more gasification processesas described herein, optionally within a year of each other andoptionally at least a portion of the volume of recycle plastics fromwhich a recycle content value is deposited into the recycle inventory isalso processed by any or more of the gasification processes describedherein.

The determination of whether a Recycle PIA is derived directly orindirectly from recycled waste is not on the basis of whetherintermediate steps or entities do or do not exist in the supply chain,but rather whether at least a portion of the recycle plastic moleculesfed to the gasifier can be traced into a Recycle PIA. The Recycle PIA isconsidered to be directly derived from recycle plastic or have directcontact with recycle plastic if at least a portion of the molecules inthe Recycle PIA can be traced back, optionally through one or moreintermediate steps or entities, to at least a portion of the recyclecontent syngas molecules. Any number of intermediaries and intermediatederivates can be made before the Recycle PIA is made.

A Recycle PIA can be indirectly derived from recycled plastics if noportion of its molecules are obtained from recycle content syngasmolecules or some portion of is molecules are obtained from recyclecontent syngas molecules but the Recycle PIA has a recycle content valuethat exceeds the recycle content value associated with the recyclecontent syngas molecules, and in this latter case, a Recycle PIA can beboth directly and indirectly derived from recycle plastic.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the Recycle PIA is indirectly derived from recycle plasticor recycle content syngas. In another embodiment, the Recycle PIA isdirectly derived from recycle plastic or recycle content syngas. Inanother embodiment, the Recycle PIA is indirectly derived from recycleplastic or recycle content syngas and no portion of the Recycle PIA isdirectly derived from the recycle plastic or recycle content syngas.

In another embodiment, there is provided a variety of methods forapportioning the recycle content among the various Recycle PIAcompositions made by any one entity or a combinations of entities amongthe Family of Entities of which the recycle content syngas manufactureris a part. For example, the recycle content syngas manufacturer, of anycombination or the entirety of its Family of Entities, or a Site, can:

-   -   a. adopt a symmetric distribution of recycle content values        among its product(s) based on the same fractional percentage of        recycle content in one or more feedstocks, or based on the        amount of allotment received. For example, if 5 wt. % of the        gasification feedstock is recycle plastic, or if the recycle        content value is 5 wt. % of the entire gasifier feedstock, then        all Recycle PIA compositions may contain 5 wt. % recycle content        value. In this case, the amount of recycle content in the        products is proportional to the amount of recycle content in the        feedstock to make the products; or    -   b. adopt an asymmetric distribution of recycle content values        among its product(s) based on the same fractional percentage of        recycle content in the one or more feedstocks, or based on the        amount of allotment received. For example, if 5 wt. % of the        gasifier feedstock is recycle plastic, or if the allotment value        is 5 wt. % of the entire gasifier feedstock, then one volume or        batch of Recycle PIA can receive a greater amount of recycle        content value that other batches or volume of Recycle PIA. One        batch of PVA can contain 20% recycle content by mass, and        another batch can contain zero 0% recycle content, even though        both volumes may be compositionally the same, provided that the        amount of recycle content value withdrawn from a recycle        inventory and applied to the Recycle PIA does not exceed the        amount of recycle content value deposited into the recycle        inventory, or if a deficit is realized, the overdraft is        rebalanced to zero or a positive credit available status as        described above. In the asymmetric distribution of recycle        content, a manufacturer can tailor the recycle content to        volumes of Recycle PIA sold as needed among customers, thereby        providing flexibility among customers some of whom may need more        recycle content than others in a PVA volume.

Both the symmetric distribution and the asymmetric distribution ofrecycle content can be proportional on a Site wide basis, or on amulti-Site basis. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, the recycle content input (recycle plastics orallotments) can be within a Site, and recycle content values from saidinputs are applied to one or more compositions made at the same Site tomake Recycle PIA. The recycle content values can be appliedsymmetrically or asymmetrically to one or more different compositionsmade at the Site.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the recycle content input or creation (recycle contentfeedstock or allotments) can be to or at a first Site, and recyclecontent values from said inputs are transferred to a second Site andapplied to one or more compositions made at a second Site, The recyclecontent values can be applied symmetrically or asymmetrically to thecompositions at the second Site.

As used herein, a compound or composition includes liquids, solids,formulations, polymers, and each to the solids can be in any form,including pellets, sheets, films, strands, mats, webs, fibers, flake,extrudates, agglomerates, etc.

In an embodiment, the Recycle PIA has associated with it, or contains,or is labelled, advertised, or certified as containing recycle contentin an amount of at least 0.01 wt. %, or at least 0.05 wt. %, or at least0.1 wt. %, or at least 0.5 wt. %, or at least 0.75 wt. %, or at least 1wt. %, or at least 1.25 wt. %, or at least 1.5 wt. %, or at least 1.75wt. %, or at least 2 wt. %, or at least 2.25 wt. %, or at least 2.5 wt.%, or at least 2.75 wt. %, or at least 3 wt. %, or at least 3.5 wt. %,or at least 4 wt. %, or at least 4.5 wt. %, or at least 5 wt. %, or atleast 6 wt. %, or at least 7 wt. %, or at least 10 wt. %, or at least 15wt. %, or at least 20 wt. %, or at least 25 wt. %, or at least 30 wt. %,or at least 35 wt. %, or at least 40 wt. %, or at least 45 wt. %, or atleast 50 wt. %, or at least 55 wt. %, or at least 60 wt. %, or at least65 wt. % and/or the amount can be up to 100 wt. %, or up to 95 wt. %, orup to 90 wt. %, or up to 80 wt. %, or up to 70 wt. %, or up to 60 wt. %,or up to 50 wt. %, or up to 40 wt. %, or up to 30 wt. %, or up to 25 wt.%, or up to 22 wt. %, or up to 20 wt. %, or up to 18 wt. %, or up to 16wt. %, or up to 15 wt. %, or up to 14 wt. %, or up to 13 wt. %, or up to11 wt. %, or up to 10 wt. %, or up to 8 wt. %, or up to 6 wt. %, or upto 5 wt. %, or up to 4 wt. %, or up to 3 wt. %, or up to 2 wt. %, or upto 1 wt. %, or up to 0.9 wt. %, or up to 0.8 wt. %, or up to 0.7 wt. %.The recycle content associated with the Recycle PIA can be associated byapplying an allotment (credit or allocation) to any polymer and/orarticle made or sold. The allotment can be contained in an inventory ofallotments created, maintained or operated by or for the Recycle PIAmanufacturer. The allotment can be obtained from any source along anymanufacturing chain of products provided that its origin is in gasifyinga feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-ground plastics.

The amount of recycle content in a reactant compound or composition, orthe amount of recycle content applied to the Recycle PIA, or the amountof recycle plastic (recycle plastic feedstock) needed to feed thegasifier to claim a desired amount of recycle content in the Recycle PIAin the event that all the recycle content from the recycle plasticfeedstock is applied to the Recycle PIA, can be determined or calculatedby any of the following methods:

-   -   (i) the amount of an allotment associated with the Recycle PIA        is determined by the amount certified or declared by the        supplier of transferred Recycle PIA, or    -   (ii) the amount of allocation declared by the entity using        Recycle PIA, or    -   (iii) using a mass balance approach to back-calculate the        minimum amount of recycle content in the feedstock from an        amount of recycle content declared, advertised, or accounted for        by the manufacturer, whether or not accurate, as applied to the        Recycle PIA product,    -   (iv) blending of non-recycle content with pre-ground plastics        feedstock, or associating recycle content to a portion of the        feedstock, using pro-rata mass approach

In one embodiment, the Recycle PIA manufacturer can make Recycle PIA, orprocess a reactant compound or composition and make a Recycle PIA, ormake Recycle PIA by obtaining any source of a reactant compound orcomposition from a supplier, whether or not such reactant compound orcomposition has any recycle content, and either:

-   -   i. from the same supplier of the reactant compound or        composition, also obtain a recycle content allotment applied to        either syngas or to any product, article, polymer, or        composition, or    -   ii. from any person or entity, obtaining a recycle content        allotment without a supply of a reactant compound or composition        from said person or entity transferring said recycle content        allotment.

The allotment in (i) can be obtained from a supplier of the reactantcompound or composition used to make Recycle PIA, and the supplier alsosupplies and transfers the reactant compound or composition to theRecycle PIA manufacturer or within its Family of Entities. Thecircumstance described in (i) allows a Recycle PIA manufacturer toobtain a supply of a reactant compound or composition that hasnon-recycle content, yet obtain a recycle content allotment from thereactant compound or composition. In one embodiment, the reactantcompound or composition supplier transfers a recycle content allotmentto the Recycle PIA manufacturer as well as a supply of reactant compoundor composition to the Recycle PIA manufacturer, where the recyclecontent allotment is not associated with the reactant compound orcomposition supplied, provided that the recycle content allotmenttransferred has its origins in gasifying recycle pre-ground plastic. Therecycle content allotment does not have to be tied to an amount ofrecycle content in a reactant compound or composition or to any monomerused to make Recycle PIA, but rather the recycle content allotmenttransferred by the reactant compound or composition supplier can beassociated with other products having their origin in a recycle derivedsyngas stream other than those in a reaction scheme to make polymerand/or articles. For example, the reactant compound or composition cantransfer to the Recycle PIA manufacturer a recycle content associatedwith r-butyraldehyde and also supply a quantity of propionic anhydrideeven though r-butyraldehyde is not used directly or via downstreamproducts in the synthesis of the polymer and/or article such as acellulose diacetate. This allows flexibility among the reactant compoundor composition supplier and Recycle PIA manufacturer to apportion arecycle content among the variety of products they each make. In each ofthese cases, however, the recycle content allotment has its origins ingasifying recycle plastics.

In one embodiment, the reactant compound or composition suppliertransfers a recycle content allotment to the Recycle PIA manufacturerand a supply of reactant compound or composition to the Recycle PIAmanufacturer, where the recycle content allotment is associated withreactant compound or composition. Optionally, the reactant compound orcomposition being supplied can be derived from recycle plastic feedstockand at least a portion of the recycle content allotment beingtransferred can be the recycle content in the reactant compound orcomposition. The recycle content allotment transferred to the RecyclePIA manufacturer can be up front with the reactant compound orcomposition supplied, optionally in installments, or with each reactantcompound or composition portion supplier, or apportioned as desiredamong the parties.

The allotment in (ii) is obtained by the Recycle PIA manufacturer (orits Family of Entities) from any person or entity without obtaining asupply of reactant compound or composition from the person or entity.The person or entity can be a reactant compound or compositionmanufacturer that does not supply reactant compound or composition tothe Recycle PIA manufacturer or its Family of Entities, or the person orentity can be a manufacturer that does not make a reactant compound orcomposition. In either case, the circumstances of (ii) allows a RecyclePIA manufacturer to obtain a recycle content allotment without having topurchase any reactant compound or composition from the entity supplyingthe recycle content allotment. For example, the person or entity maytransfer a recycle content allotment through a buy/sell model orcontract to the Recycle PIA manufacturer or its Family of Entitieswithout requiring purchase or sale of an allotment (e.g. as a productswap of products that are not reactant compound or composition), or theperson or entity may outright sell the allotment to the Recycle PIAmanufacturer or one among its Family of Entities. Alternatively, theperson or entity may transfer a product, other than a reactant compoundor composition, along with its associated recycle content allotment tothe Recycle PIA manufacturer. This can be attractive to a Recycle PIAmanufacturer that has a diversified business making a variety ofproducts other than Recycle PIA requiring raw materials other than areactant compound or composition that the person or entity can supply tothe Recycle PIA manufacturer.

The allotment can be deposited into a recycle inventory (e.g. aninventory of allotments). In one embodiment, the allotment is anallocation created by the manufacturer of the recycle derived syngasstream. The Recycle PIA manufacturer can also make a polymer and/orarticle, whether or not a recycle content is applied to the polymerand/or article and whether or not recycle content, if applied to thepolymer and/or article, is drawn from the inventory. For example, eitherthe recycle derived syngas stream manufacturer and/or the Recycle PIAmanufacturer may:

-   -   a. deposit the allotment into an inventory and merely store it;        or    -   b. deposit the allotment into an inventory and apply allotments        from the inventory to products other than:        -   i. any products derived directly or indirectly from the            recycle derived syngas stream, or        -   ii. to a polymer and/or articles made by the Recycle PIA            manufacturer, or    -   c. sell or transfer an allocation from the inventory into which        at least one allotment, obtained as noted above, was deposited.

If desired, however, from that inventory, any recycle content allotmentcan be deducted in any amount and applied to a polymer and/or article tomake a Recycle PIA. For example, a Recycle inventory of allotments canbe generated having a variety of sources for creating the allotments.Some recycle content allotments (credits) can have their origin inmethanolysis of recycle waste, or from mechanical recycling of wasteplastic or metal recycling, and/or from pyrolyzing recycle waste, orfrom any other chemical or mechanical recycling technology. The recycleinventory may or may not track the origin or basis of obtaining arecycle content value, or the inventory may not allow one to associatethe origin or basis of an allocation to the allocation applied toRecycle PIA. It is sufficient that an allocation is deducted from anallocation inventory and applied to Recycle PIA regardless of the sourceor origin of the allocation, provided that a recycle content allotmentderived from a recycle plastic feedstock containing a solid fossil fueland pre-ground plastics is present in the allotment inventory as thetime of withdrawal, or a recycle content allotment is obtained by theRecycle PIA manufacturer as specified in step (i) or step (ii), whetheror not that recycle content allotment is actually deposited into theinventory. In one embodiment, the recycle content allotment obtained instep (i) or (ii) is deposited into an inventory of allotments. In oneembodiment, the recycle content allotment deducted from the inventoryand applied to the Recycle PIA originates from gasifying a recycleplastic feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-groundplastics.

As used throughout, the inventory of allotments can be owned by therecycle derived syngas manufacturer, or by the Recycle PIA manufacturer,or operated by either of them, or owned or operated by neither but atleast in part for the benefit of either of them, or licensed by eitherof them. Also, as used throughout, the recycle derived syngasmanufacturer or the Recycle PIA manufacturer may also include either oftheir Family of Entities. For example, while either of them may not ownor operate the inventory, one among its Family of Entities may own sucha platform, or license it from an independent vendor, or operate it foreither of them. Alternatively, an independent entity may own and/oroperate the inventory and for a service fee operate and/or manage atleast a portion of the inventory for either of them.

In one embodiment, the Recycle PIA manufacturer obtains a supply ofreactant compound or composition from a supplier, and also obtains anallotment from the supplier, where such allotment is derived fromgasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-groundplastics, and optionally the allotment is associated with the reactantcompound or composition supplied. In one embodiment, at least a portionof the allotment obtained by the Recycle PIA manufacturer is either:

-   -   a. applied to Recycle PIA made by the supply of reactant        compound or composition;    -   b. applied to Recycle PIA not made by the supply of reactant        compound or composition, such as would be the case where Recycle        PIA is already made and stored in inventory or future made        Recycle PIA; or    -   c. deposited into an inventory from which is deducted an        allocation applied to Recycle PIA (the Recycle PIA applied        allocation) and the deposited allocation either does, or does        not, contribute to the amount of allocations from which the        Recycle PIA applied allocation is drawn.    -   d. deposited into an inventory and stored.

It is not necessary in all embodiments that recycle plastic feedstock isused to make Recycle PIA composition or that the Recycle PIA wasobtained from a recycle content allotment associated with a reactantcompound or composition. Further, it is not necessary that an allotmentbe applied to the recycle plastic feedstock for making the Recycle PIAto which recycle content is applied. Rather, as noted above, theallotment, even if associated with a reactant compound or compositionwhen the reactant compound or composition is obtained, can be depositedinto an electronic inventory. In one embodiment, however, the reactantcompound or composition associated with the allotment is used to makethe Recycle PIA compound or composition. In one embodiment, the RecyclePIA is obtained from a recycle content allotment associated withgasifying a recycle plastic feedstock. In one embodiment, at least aportion of the allotments obtained from gasifying solid fossil fuel andpre-ground plastics are applied to Recycle PIA to make a Recycle PIA.

In one embodiment, the recycle derived syngas stream manufacturergenerates an allotment by gasifying a combination of solid fossil fueland pre-ground plastics, and either:

-   -   a. Applies the allotment to any compound or composition (whether        liquid or solid or polymer in any form, including pellets,        sheet, fibers, flake, etc.) made directly or indirectly (e.g.        through a reaction scheme of several intermediates) from the        recycle derived syngas stream; or    -   b. Applies the allotment to a compound or composition not made        directly or indirectly from the recycle derived syngas stream,        such as would be the case where reactant compounds or        compositions are already made and stored in inventory or future        made non-recycle content reactant compounds or compositions; or    -   c. deposited into an inventory from which is deducted any        allocation that is applied to reactant compounds or        compositions; and the deposited allocation either is or is not        associated with the particular allocation applied to the        reactant compounds or compositions; or    -   d. is deposited into an inventory and stored for use at a later        time.

There is now also be provided a package or a combination of a RecyclePIA and a recycle content identifier associated with Recycle PIA, wherethe identifier is or contains a representation that the Recycle PIAcontains, or is sourced from or associated with a recycle content. Thepackage can be any suitable package for containing a polymer and/orarticle, such as a plastic or metal drum, railroad car, isotainer,totes, polytotes, IBC totes, bottles, compressed bales, jerricans, andpolybags. The identifier can be a certificate document, a productspecification stating the recycle content, a label, a logo orcertification mark from a certification agency representing that thearticle or package contains contents or the Recycle PIA contains, or ismade from sources or associated with recycle content, or it can beelectronic statements by the Recycle PIA manufacturer that accompany apurchase order or the product, or posted on a website as a statement,representation, or a logo representing that the Recycle PIA contains oris made from sources that are associated with or contain recyclecontent, or it can be an advertisement transmitted electronically, by orin a website, by email, or by television, or through a tradeshow, ineach case that is associated with Recycle PIA. The identifier need notstate or represent that the recycle content is derived from gasifying afeedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-ground plastics.Rather, the identifier can merely convey or communicate that the RecyclePIA has or is sourced from a recycle content, regardless of the source.However, the Recycle PIA has a recycle content allotment that, at leastin part, originates from gasifying solid fossil fuels and recycleplastic.

In one embodiment, one may communicate recycle content information aboutthe Recycle PIA to a third party where such recycle content informationis based on or derived from at least a portion of the allocation orcredit. The third party may be a customer of the recycle derived syngasmanufacturer or Recycle PIA manufacturer or supplier, or may be anyother person or entity or governmental organization other than theentity owning the either of them. The communication may electronic, bydocument, by advertisement, or any other means of communication.

In one embodiment, there is provided a system or package comprising:

-   -   a. Recycle PIA or article made thereby, and    -   b. an identifier such as a credit, label or certification        associated with said Recycle PIA or article made thereby, where        the identifier is a representation that the polymer and/or        article or article made thereby has, or is sourced from, a        recycle content        provided that the Recycle PIA or article made thereby has an        allotment, or is made from a reactant compound or composition,        at least in part originating directly or indirectly from        gasifying solid fossil fuels and pre-ground recycle plastics.

The system can be a physical combination, such as package having atleast Recycle PIA as its contents and the package has a label, such as alogo, that the contents such as the Recycle PIA has or is sourced from arecycle content. Alternatively, the label or certification can be issuedto a third party or customer as part of a standard operating procedureof an entity whenever it transfers or sells Recycle PIA having orsourced from recycle content. The identifier does not have to bephysically on the Recycle PIA or on a package, and does not have to beon any physical document that accompanies or is associated with theRecycle PIA. For example, the identifier can be an electronic credittransferred electronically by the Recycle PIA manufacturer to a customerin connection with the sale or transfer of the Recycle PIA product, andby sole virtue of being a credit, it is a representation that theRecycle PIA has recycle content. The identifier itself need only conveyor communicate that the Recycle PIA has or is sourced from a recyclecontent, regardless of the source. In one embodiment, articles made fromthe Recycle PIA may have the identifier, such as a stamp or logoembedded or adhered to the article. In one embodiment, the identifier isan electronic recycle content credit from any source. In one embodiment,the identifier is an electronic recycle content credit having its originin gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-groundplastics.

The Recycle PIA is made from a reactant compound or composition, whetheror not the reactant is a recycle content reactant (recycle plasticfeedstock). Once a Recycle PIA composition is made, it can be designatedas having recycle content based on and derived from at least a portionof the allotment, again whether or not the recycle plastic feedstock isused to make the Recycle PIA composition. The allocation can bewithdrawn or deducted from inventory. The amount of the deduction and/orapplied to the Recycle PIA can correspond to any of the methodsdescribed above, e.g. a mass balance approach.

In an embodiment, a Recycle PIA compound or composition can be made byhaving an inventory of allocations, and reacting a reactant compound orcomposition a synthetic process to make a Recycle PIA, and applying arecycle content to that Recycle PIA to thereby obtain a Recycle PIA bydeducting an amount of allocation from an inventory of allocations. ARecycle PIA manufacturer may have an inventory of allocations by itselfor one among its Family of Entities owning, possessing, or operating theinventory, or a third party operating at least a portion of theinventory for the Recycle PIA manufacturer or its Family of Entities oras a service provided to the Recycle PIA manufacturer or one among itsFamily of Entities. The amount of allocation deducted from inventory isflexible and will depend on the amount of recycle content applied to theRecycle PIA. It should be at least sufficient to correspond with atleast a portion if not the entire amount of recycle content applied tothe Recycle PIA. The method of calculation can be a mass balanceapproach or the methods of calculation described above. The inventory ofallocations can be established on any basis and may be a mix of basis,provided that at least some amount of allocation in the inventory isattributable to gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel andpre-ground plastics. The recycle content allotment applied to theRecycle PIA does not have to have its origin in gasifying a feedstockcontaining a solid fossil fuel and pre-ground plastics, and instead canhave its origin in any other method of generating allocations fromrecycle waste, such as through methanolysis or gasification of recyclewaste, provided that the inventory of allotments also contains anallotment or has an allotment deposit having its origin in gasifying afeedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-ground plastics. In oneembodiment, however, the recycle content applied to the Recycle PIA isan allotment obtained from gasifying a feedstock containing a solidfossil fuel and pre-ground plastics.

The following are examples of designating or declaring a recycle contentto Recycle PIA or a recycle content to a reactant compound orcomposition:

-   -   1. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a polymer and/or article composition where the        allotment is associated with a pre-ground plastics derived        syngas stream, and the reactant compound or composition used to        make the Recycle PIA did not contain any recycle content or it        did contain recycle content; or    -   2. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a polymer and/or article composition where the        allotment is derived directly or indirectly with a recycle        content reactant compound or composition, whether or not such        reactant compound or composition volume is used to make the        Recycle PIA; or    -   3. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a Recycle PIA composition where the allotment is        derived directly or indirectly from a recycle plastic feedstock        used to make the Recycle PIA to which the allotment is applied,        and:        -   a. all of the recycle content in the recycle plastic            feedstock is applied to determine the amount of recycle            content in the Recycle PIA, or        -   b. only a portion of the recycle content in the recycle            plastic feedstock is applied to determine the amount of            recycle content applied to the Recycle PIA, the remainder            stored in inventory for use to future Recycle PIA, or for            application to other existing Recycle PIA made from recycle            plastic feedstock not containing any recycle content, or to            increase the recycle content on an existing Recycle PIA, or            a combination thereof, or        -   c. none of the recycle content in the recycle plastic            feedstock is applied to the Recycle PIA and instead is            stored in an inventory, and a recycle content from any            source or origin is deducted from the inventory and applied            to Recycle PIA; or    -   4. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a reactant compound or composition used to make a        Recycle PIA to thereby obtain a Recycle PIA, where the allotment        was obtained with the transfer or purchase of the same reactant        compound or composition used to make the Recycle PIA and the        allotment is associated with the recycle content in a reactant        compound or composition; or    -   5. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a reactant compound or composition used to make a        Recycle PIA to thereby obtain a Recycle PIA, where the allotment        was obtained with the transfer or purchase of the same reactant        compound or composition used to make the Recycle PIA and the        allotment is not associated with the recycle content in a        reactant compound or composition but rather on the recycle        content of a monomer used to make the reactant compound or        composition; or    -   6. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a reactant compound or composition used to make a        Recycle PIA to thereby obtain a Recycle PIA, where the allotment        was not obtained with the transfer or purchase of the reactant        compound or composition and the allotment is associated with the        recycle content in the reactant compound or composition; or    -   7. A Recycle PIA manufacturer applies at least a portion of an        allotment to a reactant compound or composition used to make a        Recycle PIA to thereby obtain a Recycle PIA, where the allotment        was not obtained with the transfer or purchase of the reactant        compound or composition and the allotment is not associated with        the recycle content in the reactant compound or composition but        rather with the recycle content of any monomers used to make the        reactant compound or composition; or    -   8. A Recycle PIA manufacturer obtains an allotment having it        origin in gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel        and pre-ground plastics, and:        -   a. no portion of the allotment is applied to a reactant            compound or composition to make Recycle PIA and at least a            portion is applied to Recycle PIA to make a Recycle PIA; or        -   b. less than the entire portion is applied to a reactant            compound or composition used to make Recycle PIA and the            remainder is stored in inventory or is applied to future            made Recycle PIA or is applied to existing Recycle PIA in            inventory.

In one embodiment, the Recycle PIA, or articles made thereby, can beoffered for sale or sold as Recycle PIA containing or obtained withrecycle content. The sale or offer for sale can be accompanied with acertification or representation of the recycle content claim made inassociation with the Recycle PIA or article made with the Recycle PIA.

The obtaining of an allocation and designating (whether internally suchas through a bookkeeping or an inventory tracking software program orexternally by way of declaration, certification, advertising,representing, etc.) can be by the Recycle PIA manufacturer or within theRecycle PIA manufacturer Family of Entities. The designation of at leasta portion of the Recycle PIA as corresponding to at least a portion ofthe allotment (e.g. allocation or credit) can occur through a variety ofmeans and according to the system employed by the Recycle PIAmanufacturer, which can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Forexample, the designation can occur internally merely through a log entryin the books or files of the Recycle PIA manufacturer or other inventorysoftware program, or through an advertisement or statement on aspecification, on a package, on the product, by way of a logo associatedwith the product, by way of a certification declaration sheet associatedwith a product sold, or through formulas that compute the amountdeducted from inventory relative to the amount of recycle contentapplied to a product.

Optionally, the Recycle PIA can be sold. In one embodiment, there isprovided a method of offering to sell or selling polymer and/or articlesby:

-   -   a. A Recycle PIA manufacturer or its Family of Entities        obtaining or generating a recycle content allocation, and the        allocation can be obtained by any of the means described herein        and can be deposited into inventory, the recycle content        allocation having its origin in gasification of a feedstock        containing a solid fossil fuel and pre-ground plastics,    -   b. converting a reactant compound or composition in a synthetic        process to make a compound, composition, polymer and/or article        composition,    -   c. designating (e.g. assigning or associating) a recycle content        to at least a portion of the compound, composition, polymer        and/or article composition from an inventory of allocations,        where the inventory contains at least one entry that is an        allocation having its origin in gasification of a feedstock        containing a pre-ground plastics. The designation can be the        amount of allocation deducted from inventory, or the amount of        recycle content declared or determined by the Recycle PIA        manufacturer in its accounts. Thus, the amount of recycle        content does not necessarily have to be applied to the Recycle        PIA product in a physical fashion. The designation can be an        internal designation to or by the Recycle PIA manufacturer or        its Family of Entities or a service provider in contractual        relationship to the Recycle PIA manufacturer or its Family of        Entities, and    -   d. offering to sell or selling the compound, composition,        polymer and/or article composition as containing or obtained        with recycle content corresponding at least in part with such        designation. The amount of recycle content represented as        contained in the Recycle PIA sold or offered for sale has a        relationship or linkage to the designation. The amount of        recycle content can be a 1:1 relationship in the amount of        recycle content declared on a Recycle PIA offered for sale or        sold and the amount of recycle content assigned or designated to        the Recycle PIA by the Recycle PIA manufacturer.

The steps described need not be sequential, and can be independent fromeach other. For example, the step a) of obtaining an allocation and thestep of making Recycle PIA from a reactant compound or composition canbe simultaneous and related if one employs a recycle plastic feedstockcomposition to make the Recycle PIA since the recycle plastic feedstockis both a reactant compound or composition and has a recycle contentallocation associated with it.

As used throughout, the step of deducting an allocation from aninventory of allocations does not require its application to a RecyclePIA product. The deduction also does not mean that the quantitydisappears or is removed from the inventory logs. A deduction can be anadjustment of an entry, a withdrawal, an addition of an entry as adebit, or any other algorithm that adjusts inputs and outputs based onan amount recycle content associated with a product and one or acumulative amount of allocations on deposit in the inventory. Forexample, a deduction can be a simple step of a reducing/debit entry fromone column and an addition/credit to another column within the sameprogram or books, or an algorithm that automates the deductions andentries/additions and/or applications or designations to a productslate. The step of applying an allocation to a Recycle PIA product wheresuch allocation was deducted from inventory also does not require theallocation to be applied physically to a Recycle PIA product or to anydocument issued in association with the Recycle PIA product sold. Forexample, a Recycle PIA manufacturer may ship Recycle PIA product to acustomer and satisfy the “application” of the allocation to the RecyclePIA product by electronically transferring a recycle content credit tothe customer.

In one embodiment, the amount of recycle content in the recycle plasticfeedstock or in the Recycle PIA will be based on the allocation orcredit obtained by the manufacturer of the Recycle PIA composition orthe amount available in the Recycle PIA manufacturer's inventory ofallotments. A portion or all of the allocation or credit obtained by orin the possession of a manufacturer of Recycle PIA can be designated andassigned to a recycle plastic feedstock or Recycle PIA on a mass balancebasis. The assigned value of the recycle content to the recycle plasticfeedstock or Recycle PIA should not exceed the total amount of allallocations and/or credits available to the manufacturer of the RecyclePIA or other entity authorized to assign a recycle content value to theRecycle PIA.

There is now also provided a method of introducing or establishing arecycle content in a compound, composition, polymer and/or articlewithout necessarily using reactant compound or composition havingrecycle content. In this method,

-   -   a. a syngas manufacturer makes a recycle plastic derived syngas        stream and    -   b. a polymer and/or article manufacturer:        -   i. obtains an allotment having it origin in gasifying            recycle plastics, or derived from said recycle plastic            derived syngas stream, the syngas manufacturer or from a            third-party transferring said allotment,        -   ii. makes a polymer and/or article from any reactant            compound or composition, and        -   iii. associates at least a portion of the allotment with at            least a portion of the polymer and/or article, whether or            not the reactant compound or composition used to make the            polymer and/or article contains a recycle content.

In this method, the polymer and/or article manufacturer need notpurchase a recycle reactant compound or composition from a particularsource or supplier, and does not require the polymer and/or articlemanufacturer to use or purchase a reactant compound or compositionhaving recycle content in order to successfully establish a recyclecontent in the polymer and/or article composition. The polymer orarticle manufacturer may use any source of reactant compound orcomposition and apply at least a portion of the allocation or credit toat least a portion of the reactant compound or composition feedstock orto at least a portion of the polymer and/or article product. Theassociation by the polymer and/or article manufacturer may come in anyform, whether by on in its inventory, internal accounting methods, ordeclarations or claims made to a third party or the public.

There is also provided a use for a reactant compound or composition, theuse including converting recycle pre-ground plastic in any syntheticprocess, such as gasification, to make syngas and/or Recycle PIA.

There is also provided a use for a recycle pre-ground plastics thatincludes converting a reactant compound or composition in a syntheticprocess to make polymer and/or articles and applying at least a portionof an allotment to the polymer and/or article to the reactant compoundor composition, where the allotment has its origin in gasifying afeedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and recycle pre-ground plasticsor has its origin in an inventory of allotments where at least onedeposit made into the inventory has its origin in gasifying a feedstockcontaining a solid fossil fuel and recycle pre-ground plastics.

In one embodiment, there is provided a polymer and/or articlecomposition that is obtained by any of the methods described above.

The reactant compound or composition, such a reactant compound orcomposition can be stored in a storage vessel and transferred to aRecycle PIA manufacturing facility by way of truck, pipe, or ship, or asfurther described below, the reactant compound or composition productionfacility can be integrated with the Recycle PIA facility. The reactantcompound or composition may be shipped or transferred to the operator orfacility that makes the polymer and/or article.

In an embodiment, the process for making Recycle PIA can be anintegrated process. One such example is a process to make Recycle PIAby:

-   -   a. gasifying a feedstock containing a solid fossil fuel and        recycle pre-ground plastics to make a recycle derived syngas        stream; and    -   b. reacting said recycle derived syngas or a non-recycle content        syngas made in the gasifier in a reaction scheme to make a        reactant compound or composition;    -   c. reacting any reactant compound or composition in a synthetic        process to make a polymer and/or article;    -   d. depositing an allotment into an inventory of allotments, said        allotment originating from gasifying a feedstock containing a        solid fossil fuel and recycle pre-ground plastics; and    -   e. applying any allotment from said inventory to the polymer        and/or article to thereby obtain a recycle content polymer        and/or article composition.

In one embodiment, one may integrate two or more facilities and makeRecycle PIA. The facilities to make Recycle PIA, the reactant compoundor composition, or the syngas can be stand-alone facilities orfacilities integrated to each other. For example, one may establish asystem of producing and consuming a reactant compound or composition, asfollows:

-   -   a. provide a reactant compound or composition manufacturing        facility configured to produce a reactant compound or        composition;    -   b. provide a polymer and/or article manufacturing facility        having a reactor configured to accept a reactant compound or        composition from the reactant compound or composition        manufacturing facility and making a polymer and/or article; and    -   c. a supply system providing fluid communication between these        two facilities and capable of supplying a reactant compound or        composition from the reactant compound or composition        manufacturing facility to the polymer and/or article        manufacturing facility,        wherein the reactant compound or composition manufacturing        facility generates allotments from gasifying a feedstock        containing solid fossil fuel and recycle pre-ground plastics,        and:    -   (i) said allotments are applied to the reactants compounds or        compositions or to the polymer and/or article reactant, or    -   (ii) are deposited into an inventory of allotments, and any        allotment is withdrawn from the inventory an applied to the        reactant compounds or compositions or to the polymer and/or        article.

The reactant compound or composition manufacturing facility can makeRecycle PIA by accepting any reactant compound or composition from thereactant compound or composition manufacturing facility and applying arecycle content to a polymer and/or article made with the reactantcompound or composition by deducting allotments from its inventory andapplying them to the Recycle PIA, optionally in amounts using themethods described above. The allotments withdrawn from inventory andapplied can be allotments obtained by any source of recycle content, andneed not necessarily be allotments associated with gasifying recyclepre-ground plastics.

In one embodiment, there is also provided a system for producing RecyclePIA as follows:

-   -   a. provide a gasification manufacturing facility configured to        produce an output composition comprising a recycle derived        syngas stream;    -   b. provide a reactant compound or composition manufacturing        facility configured to accept a recycle derived syngas stream        from the gasification manufacturing facility and making, through        a reaction scheme one or more downstream products of said syngas        to make an output composition comprising a reactant compound or        composition;    -   c. provide a polymer and/or article manufacturing facility        having a reactor configured to accept a reactant compound or        composition and making an output composition comprising a        recycle content Recycle PIA; and    -   d. a supply system providing fluid communication between at        least two of these facilities and capable of supplying the        output composition of one manufacturing facility to another one        or more of said manufacturing facilities.

The polymer and/or article manufacturing facility can make Recycle PIA.In this system, the gasification manufacturing facility can have itsoutput in fluid communication with the reactant compound or compositionmanufacturing facility which in turn can have its output in fluidcommunication with the polymer and/or article manufacturing facility.Alternatively, the manufacturing facilities of a) and b) alone can be influid communication, or only b) and c). In the latter case, the polymerand/or article manufacturing facility can make Recycle PIA directly byhaving the pre-ground plastics content syngas produced in thegasification manufacturing facility converted all the way to RecyclePIA, or indirectly by accepting any reactant compound or compositionfrom the reactant compound or composition manufacturing facility andapplying a recycle content to Recycle PIA by deducting allotments fromits inventory and applying them to the Recycle PIA, optionally inamounts using the methods described above. The allotments obtained andstored in inventory can be obtained by any of the methods describedabove,

The fluid communication can be gaseous or liquid or both. The fluidcommunication need not be continuous and can be interrupted by storagetanks, valves, or other purification or treatment facilities, so long asthe fluid can be transported from the manufacturing facility to thesubsequent facility through an interconnecting pipe network and withoutthe use of truck, train, ship, or airplane. Further, the facilities mayshare the same site, or in other words, one site may contain two or moreof the facilities. Additionally, the facilities may also share storagetank sites, or storage tanks for ancillary chemicals, or may also shareutilities, steam or other heat sources, etc., yet also be considered asdiscrete facilities since their unit operations are separate. A facilitywill typically be bounded by a battery limit.

In one embodiment, the integrated process includes at least twofacilities co-located within 5, or within 3, or within 2, or within 1mile of each other (measured as a straight line). In one embodiment, atleast two facilities are owned by the same Family of Entities.

In an embodiment, there is also provided an integrated Recycle PIAgenerating and consumption system. This system includes:

-   -   a. Provide a gasification manufacturing facility configured to        produce an output composition comprising a recycle derived        syngas stream obtained by gasifying solid fossil fuel and        recycle pre-ground plastic;    -   b. provide a reactant compound or composition manufacturing        facility configured to accept a recycle derived syngas stream        from the gasification manufacturing facility and making, through        a reaction scheme, one or more downstream products of said        syngas to make an output composition comprising a reactant        compound or composition;    -   c. provide a polymer and/or article manufacturing facility        having a reactor configured to accept said reactant compound or        composition and making an output composition comprising a        polymer and/or article; and    -   d. a piping system interconnecting at least two of said        facilities, optionally with intermediate processing equipment or        storage facilities, capable of taking off the output composition        from one facility and accept said output at any one or more of        the other facilities.

The system does not necessarily require a fluid communication betweenthe two facilities, although fluid communication is desirable. Forexample, the recycle derived syngas can be delivered to the reactantcompound or composition facility through the interconnecting pipingnetwork that can be interrupted by other processing equipment, such astreatment, purification, pumps, compression, or equipment adapted tocombine streams, or storage facilities, all containing optionalmetering, valving, or interlock equipment. The equipment can be a fixedto the ground or fixed to structures that are fixed to the ground. Theinterconnecting piping does not need to connect to the reactant compoundor composition reactor or the cracker, but rather to a delivery andreceiving point at the respective facilities. The interconnectingpipework need not connect all three facilities to each other, but ratherthe interconnecting pipework can be between facilities a)-b), or b)-c),or between a)-b)-c).

In an embodiment, the total amount of carbon in the pre-ground plasticsadded to the solid fossil fuel is at least 70 wt. %, or at least 75 wt.%, or at least 80 wt. %.

The total amount of hydrogen in the pre-ground plastics are desirably atleast 5 wt. %, or at least 8 wt. %, or at least 10 wt. %.

In another embodiment, the ratio of total hydrogen to total carbon inthe plastics feed is higher than that of the solid fossil fuel. In oneembodiment or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, theratio of total hydrogen to total carbon in the pre-ground plastics usedin the feedstock is at least 0.075, or at least 0.08, or at least 0.085,or at least 0.09, or at least 0.095, or at least 0.1, or at least 0.11,or at least 0.12, or at least 0.13.

In another embodiment, the pre-ground plastics used in the feedstockstream have an average fixed carbon content of less than 75 wt. %, ornot more than 70 wt. %, or not more than 65 wt. %, or not more than 60wt. %, or not more than 55 wt. %, or not more than 45 wt. %, or not morethan 40 wt. %, or not more than 35 wt. %, or not more than 30 wt. %, ornot more than 25 wt. %, or not more than 20 wt. %, or not more than 15wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or not more than 8 wt. %, or not morethan 6 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %, or not more than 4 wt. %, or notmore than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %,based on the weight of the pre-ground plastics. The fixed carbon contentis the combustible solids remaining (other than ash) after the coal isheated and volatiles removed. It can be determined by subtracting thepercentages of moisture, volatile matter, and ash from a sample. If asolid is employed with a large mismatch in fixed carbon content,variations in syngas composition can be experienced outside of desirablelimits. For example, a solid that has a very low fixed carbon contentcould, in an entrainment flow high temperature gasifier, gasify morereadily than coal proceed from making carbon monoxide to generating morecarbon dioxide within the residence time experienced by coal, while aco-feed of solids having a much higher fixed carbon content that coalwould take longer to gasify and generate more unconverted solids. Thedegree of syngas compositional variations that can be tolerated willdepend on the use of the syngas, and in the case of making chemicals, itis desirably to minimize the factors that could cause wider syngascompositional variations. In the process of the invention, syngascompositional variations attributable to the use of plastics arenegligible due by keeping the plastics concentration in the solids low.

In another embodiment, the pre-ground plastics used in the feedstockstream have an average fixed carbon content that is at least 3% less, orat least 5% less, or at least 7% less, or at least 9% less, or at least10% less, or at least 13% less, or at least 15% less, or at least 17%less, or at least 20% less, or at least 23% less, or at least 25% less,or at least 27% less, or at least 30% less, or at least 32% less, or atleast 35% less, or at least 38% less, or at least 40% less, or at least43% less, or at least 45% less, or at least 47% less, or at least 50%less, or at least 55% less, or at least 60% less, or at least 70% less,or at least 80% less, or at least 90% less, or at least 95% less, thanthe fixed carbon content of coal, or optionally all solid fossil fuelemployed in the feedstock stream, or optionally any solids other thatplastics.

The pre-ground plastics can have an average sulfur content that is lowor only in trace amounts. The pre-ground plastics have an average sulfurcontent of up to 5 wt. %, or up to 4 wt. %, or up to 3.5 wt. %, or up to3 wt. %, or up to 2.5 wt. %, or up to 2 wt. %, or up to 1.5 wt. %, or upto 1 wt. %, or up to 0.5 wt. %, or up to 0.25 wt. %, or up to 0.1 wt. %,or up to 0.05 wt. %, or up to 0.01 wt. %, or up to 0.005 wt. %, based onthe weight of the pre-ground plastics.

The pre-ground plastics may have a widely varying ash content dependingon the type of plastics in the plastics stream and the purity theplastics stream to the select plastic. The pre-ground plastics may havean average ash content of at least 1 wt. %, or at least 2 wt. %, or atleast 3 wt. %, or at least 4 wt. %, or at least 10 wt. %, or at least 15wt. %, or at least 20 wt. %, or at least 25 wt. %, or at least 30 wt. %,or at least 35 wt. %, or at least 40 wt. %, or at least 45 wt. % basedon the weight of the pre-ground plastics. The pre-ground plastics mayhave an average ash content of not more than 60 wt. %, or not more than55 wt. %, or not more than 55 wt. %, or not more than 55 wt. %, or notmore than 55 wt. %, or not more than 40 wt. %, or not more than 30 wt.%, or not more than 20 wt. %, or not more than 15 wt. %, or not morethan 10 wt. %, desirably not more than 8 wt. %, or not more than 7 wt.%, or not more than 6 wt. %, or not more than 5.5 wt. %, or not morethan 5 wt. %, or not more than 4.5 wt. %, or not more than 4 wt. %, ornot more than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2.5 wt. %, based on the weightof the pre-ground plastics.

In another embodiment, the average oxygen content in the plastics can beat zero or at least 0.1 wt. %, or at least 0.5 wt. %, or at least 1 wt.%, or at least 2 wt. %, or at least 4 wt. %, or at least 6 wt. %, or atleast 8 wt. %, or at least 10 wt. %, or at least 13 wt. %, or at least15 wt. %, or at least 18 wt. %, or at least 20 wt. %. Desirably, toimprove the HHV, the amount of oxygen is kept low, such as not more than20 wt. %, or not more than 15 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or notmore than 8 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %, or not more than 4 wt. %,or not more than 2 wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %, based on the weightof the pre-ground plastics.

The content of minerals, metals and elements other than carbon,hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, in the pre-ground plastics canbe at least 0.01 wt. %, or at least 0.1 wt. %, or at least 0.5 wt. %, orat least 1 wt. %, or at least 1.5 wt. %, or at least 1.8 wt. %, or atleast 2 wt. %, or at least 2.3 wt. %, or at least 2.5 wt. %, or at least2.8 wt. %, or at least 3 wt. %, based on the weight of the pre-groundplastics. The upper amount is not particularly limited, and generallywould not exceed 8 wt. %, or not exceed 7 wt. %, or not exceed 6 wt. %,or not exceed 5 wt. %, or not exceed 4.5 wt. %, or not exceed 4 wt. %,or not exceed 3.8 wt. %.

The plastics charged to the gasifier have been treated by at least onegranulation step to reduce the size of the plastics from either theiroriginal form or from their form as shredded/chipped plastics having anaverage size of ¼ inch or more in their longest dimension. Desirably,the plastics, prior to arrival at a gasification facility, have beentreated with a first pass of granulation or shredding from the originalform of the plastic. The coarsely granulated plastics are then furtherfinely granulated, and optionally further pulverizing or milled, to thefinal desired particle size. The gasification facility can receivepre-granulated plastics at their final particle size, or can receivecoarsely ground plastics and the operator/owner of the gasificationfacility can conduct the granulation step(s) necessary to obtain thedesired particle size present in the feedstock stream.

The plastics are ground prior to addition to other fossil fuels, meaningthey are ground, and optionally but desirably sieved, to the finalparticle size prior to combining them with the solid fossil fuel(“pre-ground plastics”). As explained below, the plastics in theiroriginal size, or as coarsely ground (e.g. average of ¼ inch or more intheir largest dimension or even 0.5 inches or more), cannot be processedthrough an entrained flow coal gasifier. Further, the elasticity of theplastics makes them unsuited for co-granulating with more hard andbrittle carbonaceous fuel sources like coal or pet coke.

The plastics are pre-ground to a suitable particle size, optionallysieved, and then combined with one or more fossil fuel components of thefeedstock stream at any location prior to introducing the feedstockstream into gasification zone within the gasifier. As noted above,plastics are not easily ground concurrently in the same equipment usedto grind coal, particularly in a slurry, since many of the plastics aresoft, elastic and non-friable. However, the coal grinding equipment willprovide an excellent source of energy for mixing pre-ground plasticswith the fossil fuel while reducing the size of the coal particles.Therefore, one of the desirable locations for combining pre-groundplastics having a target size for feeding into the gasifier is into theequipment used for grinding the other carbonaceous fossil fuel sources(e.g. coal, pet-coke). This location is particularly attractive in aslurry fed gasifier because it is desirable to use a feed having thehighest stable solids concentration possible, and at higher solidsconcentration, the viscosity of the slurry is also high. The torque andshear forces employed in fossil fuel grinding equipment is high, andcoupled with the shear thinning behavior of a coal slurry, good mixingof the pre-ground plastics with the ground fossil fuel can be obtainedin the fossil fuel grinding equipment.

Other locations for combining pre-ground plastics with fossil fuelsources can be onto the fossil fuel loaded on the main fossil fuel beltfeeding a grinder, or onto the main fossil fuel belt feeding a grinderbefore the fossil fuel is loaded onto the belt, or into a fossil fuelslurry storage tank containing a slurry of fossil fuel ground to thefinal size, particularly if the storage tank is agitated.

There are several locations that provide a safe, economic and effectiveway to introduce pre-ground solid plastics comprising recycled plasticsto a slurry fed coal gasifier. In additional embodiments of theinvention, FIG. 5 shows four locations where recycle plastics contentcan be introduced. All of these points are in the low-pressure section(lower than the pressure within the gasifier or gasification zone) ofthe process thus reducing the cost of modifications.

In an embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 5, the recycle plasticscontent can be introduced at location 100, the main coal feed belt. Theplastics are metered onto the main coal feed belt as it moves past withthe coal feed already loaded onto the belt. The plastics are added tothe belt using a weigh belt feeder, or other similar device, to measurethe mass of the material, and the speed of the belt to determineaddition rate. Coal is similarly added to the same belt and would beunderneath the plastics. The combined solid mixture of the coal andplastics in the proper ratio are then conveyed to surge hoppers andother storage and conveying equipment until it is ultimately fed to thecoal grinding mill. In the coal grinding mill, the coal, plastics, waterand viscosity modifiers are mixed thoroughly, and the coal is reduced insize to the target grind size distribution and the mixture becomes aviscous slurry. The plastics undergoes very little or no size reductionsince it is a softer material, but benefits from the extreme mixing inthe mill due to its inclusion into the slurry production process. Theplastics have been pre-ground to the target size (e.g. less than 2 mm)and do not need any further size reduction.

In another embodiment of the invention, recycle plastics content can beintroduced as shown in FIG. 5 location number 110. This is the sameprocess as described in location number 100 above, except that theplastics are added to the main coal belt first, before the coal isadded. In this manner, coal is on top. Since the plastics will bepre-ground and may inherently be less dense than coal, it may be easierfor this material to be blown off of the belt in a strong wind. With themuch coarser and more dense coal covering the recycled material, thisdusting and loss of material will be greatly reduced.

In another embodiment the invention, the recycle plastics content can beadded at location number 120, the grinding mill. The existing equipment,coal, water and viscosity modifiers are already added to the grindingmill to reduce the particle size of the coal and produce a viscousslurry high in solids. The plastics can be independently conveyed to theentry point of the mill and added directly to the mill in the properratio. The mill will then grind the coal, produce the slurry andthoroughly mix in the plastics in the process. This avoids wind andweather effects on the coal, recycled material mixture.

In yet another embodiment of the invention the recycle plastics contentcan be introduced at location number 130, the slurry storage tank. Sincethe plastics are pre-ground to the proper particle size for introductioninto the gasifier, it can be added to the slurry storage tank directlyafter the grinding/slurry operation. Alternatively, it can be added tothe tank through a separate screen or the screen used by the slurry toensure no large particles are passed to the tank. This is the lastlow-pressure addition point before the slurry is pumped at pressure tothe gasifier. This will minimize the amount of material in process thatis mixed together. The agitation in the slurry tanks will mix in theplastics to ensure it is evenly distributed.

The fossil fuel (coal or petcoke) and the plastics are ground or milledfor multiple purposes. The plastics must be ground to a small size asdoes the fossil fuel source to (i) allow for faster reaction once insidethe gasifier due to mass transfer limitations, (ii) to create a slurrythat is stable, fluid and flowable at high concentrations of solids towater, and (iii) to pass through processing equipment such ashigh-pressure pumps, valves, and feed injectors that have tightclearances. Typically, this means that the solids in the feedstock,including the plastics, are ground to a particle size of 2 mm orsmaller. As used throughout, a stated particle size means that at least90 wt. % of the particles have a largest dimension in the stated size,or alternatively that 90 wt. % passes through sieve designated for thatparticle size. Either conditions satisfies the particle sizedesignation. Larger size plastics have the potential for being blownthrough the gasification zone without completely gasifying, particularlywhen the gasification conditions are established to gasify solid fossilfuel having a particle dimension of 2 mm or smaller.

The plastics are desirably ground to a particle size that, afteroptional sieving, is acceptable for gasifying within the designparameters of the gasifier. Desirably, the particle size of the plasticsused in the feedstock, or as fed to or combined with a solid fuel, is 2mm and smaller or constitute those particles passing through a 10 mesh,or 1.7 mm or smaller (those particles passing through a 12 mesh), or 1.4mm or smaller (those particles passing through a 14 mesh), or 1.2 mm orsmaller (those particles passing through a 16 mesh), or 1 mm or smaller(those particles passing through a 18 mesh), or 0.85 mm or smaller(those particles passing through a 20 mesh), or 0.7 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 25 mesh) or 0.6 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 30 mesh), or 0.5 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 35 mesh), or 0.4 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 40 mesh), or 0.35 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 45 mesh), or 0.3 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 50 mesh), or 0.25 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 60 mesh), or 0.15 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 100 mesh), or 0.1 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 140 mesh), or 0.07 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 200 mesh), or 0.044 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 325 mesh), or 0.037 mm or smaller (thoseparticles passing through a 400 mesh). In another embodiment, the sizeof the ground plastic particles is at least 0.037 mm (or 90% retained ona 400 mesh). The sample of pre-ground plastics will be considered to bewithin a stated particle size limit if 90 vol. % of the sample is withinthe stated limits.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the 90% of the particle size of the pre-ground plastics asused in the feedstock composition is 1 mm or smaller in its largestdimension, or 0.5 mm or smaller, or 0.25 mm or smaller, or 0.1 mm orsmaller (or those particles passing through a 140 mesh), or 0.07 mm orsmaller (those particles passing through a 200 mesh), or 0.044 mm orsmaller (those particles passing through a 325 mesh), or 0.037 mm orsmaller (those particles passing through a 400 mesh).

In another embodiment, the particle sizes of rubber and the fossil fuelscan be sufficiently matched to retain the stability of the slurry andavoid a coal/plastic separation at high solids concentrations prior toentering the gasification zone in the gasifier. A feedstock stream thatphase separates, whether between solids/liquid or plastic/fossil fuel,can plug lines, created localized zones of gasified plastic, createinconsistent ratios of fossil fuel/plastic, and can impact theconsistency of the syngas composition. Variables to consider fordetermining the optimal particle size of the ground plastics include thebulk density of the ground coal, the concentration of all solids in theslurry if a slurry is used, the effectiveness of any additives employedsuch as surfactants/stabilizers/viscosity modifiers, and the velocityand turbulence of the feedstock stream to the gasifier and through theinjector nozzles.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the bulk density of the ground plastics without compaction(loose) after final grinding is within 150%, or within 110%, or within100%, or within 75%, or within 60%, or within 55%, or within 50%, orwithin 45%, or within 40%, or within 35% of the loose bulk density ofthe ground fossil fuel after its final grinding. For example, if thegranulated coal has a loose bulk density of 40 lbs/ft³ and thegranulated plastics have a loose bulk density of 33 lbs/ft³, the bulkdensity of the plastics would be within 21% of the ground coal. Formeasurement purposes, the bulk density of the pre-ground plastics andthe fossil fuel after final grinding is determined dry (without additionof water) even though they are ultimately used as a slurry.

In an alternative embodiment or in addition to any other embodimentdescribed herein, the maximum particle size of the ground plastics isselected to be similar (below or above) to the maximum particle size ofthe ground coal. The maximum particle size of the ground plastics isdesirably within (meaning below or above) 50%, or within 45%, or within40%, or within 35%, or within 30%, or within 25%, or within 20%, orwithin 15%, or within 10%, or within 5% of the maximum particle size ofthe ground coal. The maximum particle size is not determined as themaximum size of the particle distribution but rather by sieving throughmeshes. The maximum particle size is determined as the first mesh whichallows at least 90 volume % of a sample of the ground particles to pass.For example, if less than 90 volume % of a sample passes through a 300mesh, then a 100 mesh, a 50 mesh, a 30 mesh, a 16 mesh, but succeeds ata 14 mesh, then the maximum particle size of that sample is deemed tocorrespond to the first mesh size that allowed at least 90 volume % topass through, and in this case, a 14 mesh corresponding to a maximumparticle size of 1.4 mm.

The amount of ground plastics present in the feedstock stream can be upto 25 wt. %, or up to 20 wt. %, or up 15 wt. %, or up to 12 wt. %, or upto 10 wt. %, or up to 7 wt. %, or up to 5 wt. %, or less than 5 wt. % orrange from 0.1 wt. % to 25 wt. %, or 0.1 wt. % to 20 wt. %, or from 0.1wt. % to 15 wt. %, or from 0.1 wt. % to 12 wt. %, or from 0.1 wt. % to10 wt. %, or from 0.1 wt. % to 7 wt. %, desirably from 0.1 wt. % to upto or less than 5 wt. %, based on the weight of all solids. Sinceplastics have, on average, a much lower fixed carbon content than solidfossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide they generate will be morethan that of the solid fossil fuels at the same residence time in thegasification zone and on the same weight basis. Desirably, theconcentration of the pre-ground plastics are low to obtain the advantageof minimizing an increase of carbon dioxide content over that generatedby the solid fossil fuels alone. Desirably, the concentration ofpre-ground plastics are less than 5 wt. %, or not more than 4.5 wt. %,or not more than 4 wt. %, or not more than 3.5 wt. %, or not more than 3wt. %, or not more than 2.5 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, and in eachcase as least 0.1 wt. %, or at least 0.5 wt. %, or at least 1 wt. %,each based on the weight of the solids in the feedstock stream. Examplesof the content of ground plastic present in the feedstock stream include0.25 wt. % to less than 5 wt. %, or from 0.25 wt. % to 4 wt. %, or from0.25 wt. % to 3 wt. %, or from 0.25 wt. % to 2.5 wt. %, or from 0.5 wt.% to 5 wt. %, or from 0.5 wt. % to 4 wt. %, or from 0.5 wt. % to 3 wt.%, or from 0.5 wt. % to 2.5 wt. %, or from 1 wt. % to 5 wt. %, or from 1wt. % to 4 wt. %, or from 1 wt. % to 3 wt. %, or from 1 wt. % to 2.5 wt.% each based on the weight of the solids in the feedstock stream. Theseranges are particularly useful when a mixed plastic stream is employed.

The pre-ground plastics are desirably isolated as a ground plastic feedfor ultimate destination to be mixed with one or more components of thefeedstock stream. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, at least 80 wt. %, or at least 85 wt. %, or atleast 90 wt. %, or at least 95 wt. %, or at least 96 wt. %, or at least97 wt. %, or at least 98 wt. %, or at least 99 wt. %, or at least 99.5wt. %, or 100 wt. % of all solid feedstock other than solid fossil fuelsin the feedstock stream fed into the gasifier is pre-ground plastics.

The solids in the feedstock stream desirably do not contain sewagesludge, waste paper, or biomass. In one embodiment or in combinationwith any of the mentioned embodiments, the feedstock stream contains notmore than 10 wt. %, or not more than 6 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %,or not more than 4 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.5 wt. %, or not morethan 0.25 wt. %, or not more than 0.1 wt. % of any one of sewage sludge,waste paper, biomass, or a combination of two or more, each based on theweight of the solids in the feedstock stream.

The pre-ground plastics will, even after final grinding, contain somelevel of materials other polymer, such as metals, fillers, and othermaterials. The quantity of such materials in the pre-ground plasticsthat feed into the feedstock stream, other than rubber, is desirablyless than 8 wt. %, or not more than 6 wt. %, or not more than 5 wt. %,or not more than 4 wt. %, or not more than 3.5 wt. %, or not more than 2wt. %, or not more than 1.5 wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %, or not morethan 0.75 wt. %, or not more than 0.5 wt. %, based on the weight of thepre-ground plastic particles.

The amount of solid fossil fuel, such as coal, in the feedstock or fedto the gasifier can be at least 10 wt. %, or at least 80 wt. %, or atleast 85 wt. %, or at least 90 wt. %, or at least 93 wt. %, or at least95 wt. %, or at least 97 wt. %, or at least 98 wt. %, or at least 98.5wt. %, or at least 99 wt. %, and less than 100 wt. %, or less than 99.5wt. %, based on the weight of solids in the feedstock.

Coal contains a quantity of ash that also contains elements other thancarbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. The quantity of elements other thancarbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur in the feedstock stream isdesirably not more than 9 wt. %, or not more than 8.5 wt. %, or not morethan 8 wt. %, or not more than 7.5 wt. %, or not more than 7 wt. %, ornot more than 7.5 wt. %, or not more than 7 wt. %, or not more than 6.5wt. %, or not more than 6 wt. %, or not more than 5.5 wt. %, or not morethan 5 wt. %, or not more than 4.5 wt. %, based on the weight of all drysolids in the feedstock stream, or alternatively based on the weight ofthe feedstock stream.

The caloric heat value of plastics is desirably similar to or betterthan that of coal. For example, the plastics have a heat value of atleast 13,000, or at least 13,500, or at least 14,000 BTU/lb, or in therange of 13,000 to 15,000 BTU/lb (30 MJ/Kg-35 MJ/Kg), while bituminouscoal can have a heat value in a range of 12,500 to 13,300 BTU/lb (29-31MJ/Kg). Further, any ash or non-organic material will be melted andvitrified into the ash or slag matrix that is produced from theinorganics in the coal. Therefore, the plastics can be viewed as adirect replacement for coal in the feed process.

The concentration of solids (e.g. fossil fuel and plastics) in thefeedstock stream should not exceed the stability limits of the slurry,or the ability to pump or feed the feedstock at the target solidsconcentration to the gasifier. Desirably, the solids content of theslurry should be at least 50 wt. %, or at least 55 wt. %, or at least 60wt. %, or at least 62 wt. %, or at least 65 wt. %, or at least 68 wt. %,or at least 69 wt. %, or at least 70 wt. %, or at least 75 wt. %, theremainder being a liquid phase that can include water and liquidadditives. The upper limit is not particularly limited because it isdependent upon the gasifier design. However, given the practicalpumpability limits of a solid fossil fuels feed and maintaining ahomogeneous distribution of solids in the slurry, the solids content fora solid fossil slurry fed slagging gasifier desirably should not exceed75 wt. %, or 73 wt. %, the remainder being a liquid phase that caninclude water and liquid additives (as noted above, gases are notincluded in the calculation of weight percentages).

The feedstock stream is desirably stable at 5 minutes, or even 10minutes, or even 15 minutes, or even 20 minutes, or even ½ hour, or even1 hour, or even two hours. A feedstock slurry is deemed stable if itsinitial viscosity is 100,000 cP or less. The initial viscosity can beobtained by the following method. A 500-600 g of a well-mixed sample isallowed to stand still in a 600 mL liter glass beaker at ambientconditions (e.g. 25° C. and about 1 atm). A Brookfield R/S Rheometerequipped with V80-40 vane operating at a shear rate of 1.83/s issubmerged into the slurry to the bottom of the beaker after the slurryis well mixed (e.g. a homogeneous distribution of solids was formed).After a designated period of time, a viscosity reading is obtained atthe start of rotation, which is the initial viscosity reading. Theslurry is considered to be stable if the initial reading on starting aviscosity measurement is not more than 100,000 cP at the designatedperiod of time. Alternatively, the same procedure can be used with aBrookfield viscometer with an LV-2 spindle rotating at a rate of 0.5rpm. Since different viscosity value will be obtained using thedifferent equipment, the type of equipment used should be reported.However, regardless of the differences, the slurry is considered stableunder either method only if its viscosity is not more than 100,000 cP atthe reported time.

The quantity of solids in the feedstock stream and their particle sizeare adjusted to maximize the solids content while maintaining a stableand pumpable slurry. A pumpable slurry is one which has a viscosityunder 30,000 cP, or not more than 25,000 cP, or not more than 23,000 cP,and desirably not more than 20,000 cP, or not more than 18,000 cP, ornot more than 15,000 cP, or not more than 13,000 cP, in each case atambient conditions (e.g. 25° C. and 1 atm). At higher viscosities, theslurry becomes too thick to practically pump. The viscosity measurementto determine the pumpability of the slurry is taken by mixing a sampleof the slurry until a homogeneous distribution of particles is obtained,thereafter immediately submerging a Brookfield viscometer with an LV-2spindle rotating at a rate of 0.5 rpm into the well mixed slurry andtaking a reading without delay. Alternatively, a Brookfield R/Srheometer with V80-40 vane spindle operating at a shear rate of 1.83/scan be used. The method of measurement is reported since the measuredvalues between the two rheometers at their difference shear rates willgenerate different values. However, the cP values stated above apply toeither of the rheometer devices and procedures.

Conventional plastics granulators can be used to obtain the desiredparticle size. These can include systems for shredding the plasticsusing high capacity shredders to chips, followed by granulation and ifnecessary, a fine/powder granulator can be used in a last step. For thelast step, the fine/powder granulators can be in communication with aconveying system to transport the granulated plastics to a storagevessel from which the granulated plastics can be fed to any location formaking the feedstock stream, or the granulated particles can be fedcontinuously from the fine granulator to the desired location for makingthe feedstock stream. The feed of granulated plastic particles from astorage vessel can be in a batch mode or in a continuous mode.

The carbonaceous materials, e.g. fossil fuel and plastics areadvantageously loose and not densified by mechanical or chemical meansafter final granulation to make the pre-ground plastics (other thannatural compaction that may result from storage under its own weight),or desirably at any time prior to making pre-ground plastics and aftertheir post-industrial manufacture or post-consumer use. For example,coal chunks are granulated in the presence of water and not thereaftercompacted, and plastics are fine ground/pulverized without densificationoperations prior to their addition into water.

The coal must be ground prior to feeding into a gasifier to achieve anacceptable particle size for the reasons noted above. These sameconsiderations apply to the plastic granulates, although as noted above,since the coal grinding equipment is not suitable to grind plastics, theplastics must be pre-ground prior to combining them to the feedstockcomposition or before adding to the coal grinding equipment.

The coal is typically ground to a size of 2 mm or less, and can beground to any of the sizes noted above with respect to the granulatedplastic particle sizes. The small size of the coal and plastic particlesis important to assure a uniform suspension in the liquid vehicle whichwill not settle out, to allow sufficient motion relative to the gaseousreactants, to assure substantially complete gasification, and to providepumpable slurries of high solids content with a minimum of grinding.

The quality of the coal employed is not limited. Anthracite, bituminous,sub-bituminous, brown coal, and lignite coal can be sources of coalfeedstock. To increase the thermal efficiency of the gasifier, the coalemployed desirably has a carbon content that exceeds 35 wt. %, or atleast 42 wt. %, based on the weight of the coal. Accordingly, bituminousor anthracite coal is desirable due to their higher energy content.

Sulfur is also typically present in solid fossil fuels. Desirably, thecontent of sulfur is less than 5 wt. %, not more than 4 wt. %, or notmore than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2.5 wt. %, and also can contain ameasure of sulfur, such as at least 0.25 wt. %, or at least 0.5 wt. %,or at least 0.75 wt. %.

It is also desirable to employ coal with a low inherent moisture contentto improve the thermal efficiency of the gasifier. Using coal havingmoisture contents less than 25 wt. % or less than 20 wt. % or less than15 wt. % or not more than 10 wt. % or not more than 8 wt. % without theapplication of external artificially applied heat is desirable.

Desirably, the coal feedstock has a heat value of at least 11,000BTU/lb, or at least 11,500 BTU/lb, or at least 12,500 BTU/lb, or atleast 13,000 BTU/lb, or at least 13,500 BTU/lb, or at least 14,000BTU/lb, or at least 14,250 BTU/lb, or at least 14,500 BTU/lb.

While it is possible that the feedstock stream may contain minor amountsof liquid hydrocarbon oils leached from plastics or coal, the feedstockstream desirably contains less than 5 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %,or not more than 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.1 wt. % liquid (at ambientconditions) non-oxygenated hydrocarbon petroleum oils introduced as suchinto the feedstock stream. Desirably, the feedstock stream contains lessthan 2 wt. %, or not more than 1 wt. %, or no added liquid fraction fromrefining crude oil or reforming any such fraction. Desirably, thequantity of liquids in the feedstock stream is other than the solidscontent. The content of liquids, or the content of water, present in thefeedstock stream is desirably not more than 50 wt. %, or not more than35 wt. %, or not more than 32 wt. %, or not more than 31 wt. %, or notmore than 30 wt. %, based on the weight of the feedstock stream.Desirably, in each case, the content of liquids or water in thefeedstock stream is desirably at least 10 wt. %, or at least 15 wt. %,or at least 20 wt. %, or at least 25 wt. %, or at least 27 wt. %, or atleast 30 wt. %, based on the weight of the feedstock stream. Desirably,the liquids present in the feedstock stream contain at least 95 wt. %water, or at least 96 wt. % water, or at least 97 wt. % water, or atleast 98 wt. % water, or at least 99 wt. % water, based on the weight ofall liquids fed to the gasifier. In another embodiment, other thanchemical additives that are chemically synthesized and contain oxygen orsulfur or nitrogen atoms, the liquid content of the feedstock stream isat least 96 wt. % water, or at least 97 wt. % water, or at least 98 wt.% water, or at least 99 wt. % water, based on the weight of all liquidsfed to the gasifier.

In an embodiment, the water present in the feedstock stream is not wastewater, or in other words, the water fed to the solids to make thefeedstock stream is not waste water. Desirably, the water employed hasnot been industrially discharged from any process for synthesizingchemicals, or it not municipal waste water. The water is desirably freshwater, or potable water.

The feedstock stream comprises at least ground coal and ground plastics.Desirably, the feedstock stream also comprises water. The amount ofwater in the feedstock stream can range from 0 wt. % up to 50 wt. %, orfrom 10 wt. % to 40 wt. %, or from 20 wt. % to 35 wt. %. The feedstockstream is desirably a slurry containing water.

In addition to coal, water, and plastics, other additives can be addedto and contained in the feedstock stream, such as viscosity modifiersand pH modifiers. The total quantity of additives can range from 0.01wt. % to 5 wt. %, or from 0.05 wt. % to 5 wt. %, or from 0.05 to 3 wt.%, or from 0.5 to 2.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the feedstockstream. The quantity of any individual additive can also be within thesestated ranges.

The viscosity modifiers (which includes surfactants) can improve thesolids concentration in the slurry. Examples of viscosity modifiersinclude:

-   -   (i) alkyl-substituted amine-based surfactant such as        alkyl-substituted aminobutyric acid, alkyl-substituted        polyethoxylated amide, and alkyl-substituted polyethoxylated        quaternary ammonium salt; and    -   (ii) sulfates such as salts of organic sulfonic acids including        ammonium, calcium and sodium sulfonates, particularly those with        lignin and sulfo-alkylated lignites;    -   (iii) phosphate salts;    -   (iv) polyoxyalkylene anionic or nonionic surfactants.

More specific examples of alkyl-substituted aminobutyric acidsurfactants include N-coco-beta-aminobutyric acid,N-tallow-beta-aminobutyric acid, N-lauryl-beta-aminobutyric acid, andN-oleyl-beta-aminobutyric acid. N-coco-beta-aminobutyric acid.

More specific examples of alkyl-substituted polyethoxylated amidesurfactant include polyoxyethylene oleamide, polyoxyethylenetallowamide, polyoxyethylene laurylamide, and polyoxyethylene cocoamide,with 5-50 polyoxyethylene moieties being present.

More specific examples of the alkyl-substituted polyethoxylatedquaternary ammonium salt surfactant include methylbis (2-hydroxyethyl)cocoammonium chloride, methylpolyoxyethylene cocoammonium chloride,methylbis (2-hydroxyethyl) oleylammonium chloride, methylpolyoxyethyleneoleylammonium chloride, methylbis (2-hydroxyethyl) octadecylammoniumchloride, and methylpolyoxyethylene octadecylammonium chloride.

More specific examples of sulfonates include sulfonated formaldehydecondensates, naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde condensates, benzenesulfonate-phenol-formaldehyde condensates, and lingosulfonates.

More specific examples of phosphate salts include trisodium phosphate,potassium phosphate, ammonium phosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate orpotassium tripolyphosphate.

Examples of polyoxyalkylene anionic or nonionic surfactants have 1 ormore repeating units derived from ethylene oxide or propylene oxide, or1-200 oxyalkylene units.

Desirably, the surfactant is an anionic surfactant, such as salts of anorganic sulfonic acid. Examples are calcium, sodium and ammonium saltsof organic sulfonic acids such as 2,6-dihydroxy naphthalene sulfonicacid, lignite sulfonic acid, and ammonium lignosulfonate.

Examples of pH modifiers include aqueous alkali metal and alkaline earthhydroxides such as sodium hydroxide, and ammonium compounds such as20-50 wt. % aqueous ammonium hydroxide solutions. The aqueous ammoniumhydroxide solution can be added directly to the feedstock compositionprior to entry into the gasifier, such as in the coal grinding equipmentor any downstream vessels containing the slurry.

The atomic ratio of total oxygen to carbon entering the gasificationzone can be a value in the range of 0.70 to less than 2, or from 0.9 to1.9, or from 0.9 to 1.8, or from 0.9 to 1.5, or from 0.9 to 1.4, or from0.9 to 1.2, or from 1 to 1.9, or from 1 to 1.8, or from 1 to 1.5, orfrom 1 to 1.2, or from 1.05 to 1.9, or from 1.05 to 1.8, or from 1.05 to1.5, or from 1.05 to 1.2. The atomic ratio of free oxygen to carbonentering the gasification zone can also be within these same values. Theweight ratio of both total oxygen and free oxygen to carbon in poundsentering the gasification zone can also each be within these statedvalues.

The total carbon content in the feedstock stream is at least 40 wt. %,or at least 45 wt. %, or at least 50 wt. %, or at least 55 wt. %, or atleast 60 wt. %, or at least 65 wt. %, and desirably at least 70 wt. %,or at least 75 wt. %, or at least 80 wt. %, or at least 85 wt. %, or atleast 90 wt. %, each based on the total solids content.

The feedstock stream is desirably injected along with an oxidizer intothe refractory-lined combustion chamber of the synthesis gas generatinggasifier. The feedstock stream (desirably a slurry) and oxidizer aredesirably sprayed through an injector into a gasification zone that isunder significant pressure, typically about 500 psig or more, or 600psig or more, or 800 psig or more, or 1000 psig or more. The velocity orflow rate of the feedstock and oxidizer streams ejected from theinjector nozzle into the combustion chamber will exceed the rate offlame propagation to avoid backflash.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments of the invention, advantageously only one feedstock streamis charged to the gasifier or gasification zone, or in other words, allsources of carbon fuel are fed to the gasifier in only one stream. Inanother embodiment, only one feedstock stream is necessary or employedto produce a syngas or product stream that is a raw material tosynthesize a chemical compound.

In another embodiment, a chemical is made from a first syngas sourcedfrom a first gasifier fed with a first feedstock stream containing coaland the first syngas stream is not combined with a second syngas sourcedfrom any other gasifier fed with second feedstock stream where the coalcontent between the first and second feedstock streams differs by morethan 20%, or more than 10%, or more than 5%. For example, a first syngasstream generated from a first feedstock stream containing 90 wt. % coalwould not be combined with a syngas stream generated from a differentgasifier fed with a feedstock stream containing 70 wt. % coal or nocoal, but could be combined with one containing 72 wt. % coal or more.

Prior to entry into the gasifier, the feedstock stream may be subjectedto a variety of other optional processes. For example, the coal-rubberslurry can flow through a thickener in which excess water is eliminatedfrom the slurry to obtain the final desired solids concentration of theslurry entering into the gasifier vessel. Additionally, the feedstockstream may be pre-heated to prior to entry into the gasifier. In thisembodiment, the feedstock stream is heated to a temperature below theboiling point of water at the operating pressure existing in reactionzone. The preheater, when employed, reduces the heat load on thegasifier and improves the efficiency of utilization of both fuel andoxygen. In this embodiment, all of the water required for the generationof synthesis gas in reaction zone is supplied in liquid phase. Whenpetroleum coke is employed as fuel for the gas generator, part of thewater, e.g., from 1 to about 90 percent by weight based on the weight ofwater, may be vaporized in the slurry feed preheater or combined withthe oxidizing stream as vaporized water.

The oxidizer is desirably an oxidizing gas that can include air, anddesirably is a gas enriched in oxygen at quantities greater than thatfound in air. The reaction of oxygen and solid fossil fuel isexothermic. Desirably, the oxidant gas contains at least 25 mole %oxygen, or at least 35 mole %, or at least 40 mole %, or at least 50 mol%, or at least 70 mole %, or at least 85 mole %, or at least 90 mole %,or at least 95 mole %, or at least 97 mole %, or at least 98 mole %oxygen, or at least 99 mole %, or at least 99.5 mole % based on allmoles in the oxidant gas stream injected into the reaction (combustion)zone of the gasifier. In another embodiment, the combined concentrationof oxygen in all gases supplied to the gasification zone is also in theabove stated amount. The particular amount of oxygen as supplied to thereaction zone is desirably sufficient to obtain near or maximum yieldsof carbon monoxide and hydrogen obtained from the gasification reactionrelative to the components in the feedstock stream, considering theamount relative to the feedstock stream, and the amount of feedstockcharged, the process conditions, and the gasifier design.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, steam is not supplied to the gasification zone. The amountof water in a slurry fed system is typically more than sufficient aco-reactant and heat sink to regulate the gasification temperature. Theaddition of stream in a slurry fed gasifier will generally undulywithdraw heat from the reaction zone and reduce its efficiency.

Other reducible oxygen-containing gases may be supplied to the reactionzone, for example, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or simply air. In oneembodiment or in combination with any of the mentioned embodiments, nogas stream enriched in carbon dioxide or nitrogen (e.g. greater than themolar quantity found in air, or greater than 2 mole %, or greater than 5mole %, or greater than 10 mole %, or greater than 40 mole %) is chargedinto the gasifier. Many of these gases serve as carrier gases to propela dry feed to a gasification zone. Due to the pressure within thegasification zone, these carrier gases are compressed to provide themotive force for introduction into the gasification zone. Theexpenditure of energy and equipment for compressing carrier gases to thefeedstock stream is avoided is a slurry feed. Accordingly, in anotherembodiment, the feedstock stream containing at least pre-ground plasticsand ground solid fossil fuel flowing to the gasifier, or this feedstockstream introduced to a injector or charge pipe, or this feedstock streamintroduced into the gasification zone, or a combination of all theabove, does not contain gases compressed in equipment for gascompression. Alternatively, or in addition, other than the oxygen richstream described above, no gas compressed in equipment for gascompression is fed to the gasification zone or even to the gasifier. Itis noteworthy that high pressure charge pumps that process the slurryfeed for introduction into the gasification zone are not considered gascompressing equipment.

Desirably, no gas stream containing more than 0.03 mole %, or more than0.02 mole %, or more than 0.01 mole % carbon dioxide is charged to thegasifier or gasification zone. In another embodiment, no gas streamcontaining more than 77 mole %, or more than 70 mole %, or more than 50mole %, or more than 30 mole %, or more than 10 mole %, or more than 5mole %, or more than 3 mole % nitrogen is charged to the gasifier orgasification zone. In another embodiment, steam is not charged into thegasification zone or to the gasifier. In yet another embodiment, agaseous hydrogen stream (e.g. one containing more than 0.1 mole %hydrogen, or more than 0.5 mole %, or more than 1 mole %, or more than 5mole %) is not charged to the gasifier or to the gasification zone. Inanother embodiment, a stream of methane gas (e.g. one containing morethan 0.1 mole % methane, or more than 0.5 mole %, or more than 1 mole %,or more than 5 mole % methane) is not charged to the gasifier or to thegasification zone. In another embodiment, the only gaseous streamintroduced to the gasification zone is an oxygen rich gas stream asdescribed above.

The gasification process desirably employed is a partial oxidationgasification reaction. To enhance the production of hydrogen and carbonmonoxide, the oxidation process involves partial, rather than complete,oxidization of the fossil fuel and plastics and therefore is desirablyoperated in an oxygen-lean environment, relative to the amount needed tocompletely oxidize 100% of the carbon and hydrogen bonds. The totaloxygen requirements for the gasifier is desirably at least 5%, or atleast 10%, or at least 15%, or at least 20%, in excess of the amounttheoretically required to convert the carbon content of the solid fueland plastics to carbon monoxide. In general, satisfactory operation maybe obtained with a total oxygen supply of 10 to 80 percent in excess ofthe theoretical requirements. An example of a suitable amount of oxygenper pound of carbon is in the range of 0.4 to about 3.0-pound freeoxygen per pound of carbon, or from 0.6 to 2.5, or from 0.9 to 2.5, orfrom 1 to 2.5, or from 1.1 to 2.5, or from 1.2 to 2.5 pounds of freeoxygen per pound of carbon.

Mixing of the feedstock stream and the oxidant is desirably accomplishedentirely within the reaction zone by introducing the separate streams offeedstock and oxidant so that they impinge upon each other within thereaction zone. Desirably, the oxidant stream is introduced into thereaction zone of the gasifier as high velocity to both exceed the rateof flame propagation and to improve mixing with the feedstock stream.The oxidant is desirably injected into the gasification zone in therange of 25 to 500 feet per second, or 50 to 400 ft/s, or 100 to 400ft/s. These values would be the velocity of the gaseous oxidizing streamat the injector-gasification zone interface, or the injector tipvelocity.

One method for increasing the velocity of the oxidant feed to thegasification zone is by reducing the diameter of the oxidant annulusnear the tip of the injector or injector. Near the tip of the injectorthe annular passage converges inwardly in the shape of a hollow cone asshown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The oxidizing gas is thereby accelerated anddischarged from the injector as a high velocity conical stream having anapex angle in the desirably range of about 30° to 45°. The streams fromthe injector converge at a point located about 0-6 inches beyond theinjector face. The high velocity stream of oxidizing gas hits therelatively low velocity feedstock stream, atomizing it and forming afine mist comprising minute particles of water and particulate solidcarboniferous fuel highly dispersed in the oxidizing gas. The particlesof solid carboniferous matter impinge against one another and arefragmented further.

The velocity of the feedstock slurry is determined by the desiredthroughput of syngas generation. Suitable examples of feedstock velocityintroduced into gasification zone prior to contact with the oxidizingagent is in the range of 5 to 50 feet per second.

The feedstock stream and the oxidant can optionally be preheated to atemperature above about 200° C., or at least 300° C., or at least 400°C. Advantageously the gasification process employed does not requirepreheating the feedstock stream to efficiently gasifying the fuel, and apreheat treatment step would result in lowering the energy efficiency ofthe process. Desirably, the feedstock stream, and optionally theoxidant, are not preheated prior to their introduction into thegasifier. A preheat treatment step would be contacting the feedstockstream or oxidant with equipment that raises the temperature of thefeedstock stream sufficiently such that the temperature of the feedstockstream or oxidant stream is above 200° C., or above 190° C., or above170° C., or above 150° C., or above 130° C., or above 110° C., or above100° C., or above 98° C., or above 90° C., or above 80° C., or above 70°C., or above 60° C., immediately prior to introduction into a injectoron the gasifier. For example, while coal can be dried with hot air above200° C., this step would not be considered a preheat of the feedstockstream if the feedstock stream is below 200° C. upon its introductioninto the injector.

In another embodiment, no thermal energy (other than incidental heatfrom processing equipment such as mills, grinders or pumps) is appliedto the feedstock stream containing both plastics and the solid fossilfuel, or to the oxidant stream, at any point prior to its introductioninto the injector, or gasifier, or gasification zone (other than thetemperature increase experienced in a injector) that would increase thetemperature of the stream by more than 180° C., or more than 170° C., ormore than 160° C., or more than 150° C., or more than 140° C., or morethan 130° C., or more than 120° C., or more than 110° C., or more than100° C., or more than 90° C., or more than 80° C., or more than 70° C.,or more than 60° C., or more than 50° C., or more than 40° C., or morethan 30° C.

The process of the invention employs a gasification process, which isdistinct from pyrolysis (which is a thermal process that degrades a fuelsource in the absence of air or oxygen) or plasma processes in thatgasification does not employ a plasma arc.

Desirably, the type of gasification technology employed is a partialoxidation entrained flow gasifier that generates syngas. This technologyis distinct from fixed bed (alternatively called moving bed) gasifiersand from fluidized bed gasifiers. In fixed bed (or moving bedgasifiers), the feedstock stream moves in a countercurrent flow with theoxidant gas, and the oxidant gas typically employed is air. Thefeedstock stream falls into the gasification chamber, accumulates, andforms a bed of feedstock. Air (or alternatively oxygen) flows from thebottom of the gasifier up through the bed of feedstock materialcontinuously while fresh feedstock continuously falls down from the topby gravity to refresh the bed as it is being combusted. The combustiontemperatures are typically below the fusion temperature of the ash andare non-slagging. Whether the fixed bed operated in countercurrent flowor in some instances in co-current flow, the fixed bed reaction processgenerates high amount of tars, oils, and methane produced by pyrolysisof the feedstock in the bed, thereby both contaminating the syngasproduced and the gasifier. The contaminated syngas requires significanteffort and cost to remove tarry residues that would condense once thesyngas is cooled, and because of this, such syngas streams are generallynot used to make chemicals and is instead used in direct heatingapplications. In a fluidized bed, the feedstock material in thegasification zone is fluidized by action of the oxidant flowing throughthe bed at a high enough velocity to fluidize the particles in the bed.In a fluidized bed, the homogeneous reaction temperatures and lowreaction temperatures in the gasification zone also promotes theproduction of high amounts of unreacted feedstock material and lowcarbon conversion, and operating temperatures in the fluidized bed aretypically between 800-1000° C. Further, in a fluidized bed it isimportant to operate below slagging conditions to maintain thefluidization of the feedstock particles which would otherwise stick tothe slag and agglomerate. By employing an entrained flow gasification,these deficiencies present with fixed (or moving bed) and fluidized bedgasifiers that are typically used to process waste materials isovercome.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock stream is introduced at the top ⅛ section ofthe gasifier, desirably at the top 1/12 of the gasifier height definedby the gasifier shell (not including the injector height protruding fromthe top of the shell or pipes protruding from the bottom of the shell).The feedstock stream is desirably not introduced into a side wall of thegasifier. In another embodiment, the feedstock stream is not atangential feed injector.

In another embodiment, oxidant is introduced at the top ⅛ section of thegasifier, desirably at the top 1/12 of the gasifier height defined bythe gasifier shell. The oxidant is desirably not introduced into theside wall of the gasifier or bottom of the gasifier. In anotherembodiment, both the feedstock stream and oxidant are introduced at thetop ⅛ section of the gasifier, desirably at the top 1/12 of the gasifierheight defined by the gasifier shell. Desirably, the oxidant andfeedstock stream are fed co-currently to ensure good mixing. In thisregard, a co-current feed means that the axis of the feedstock andoxidant streams are substantially parallel (e.g. not more than a 25°deviation, or not more than a 20°, or not more than a 15°, or not morethan a 10°, or not more than a 8°, or not more than a 6°, or not morethan a 4°, or not more than a 2°, or not more than a 1° deviation fromeach other) and in the same direction.

The feedstock and oxidant streams are desirably introduced into thegasification zone through one or more injector nozzles. Desirably, thegasifier is equipped with at least one of the injector nozzles in whichthrough that injector nozzle both a feedstock stream and an oxidantstream are introduced into the gasification zone.

While the feedstock stream can be a dry feed or a slurry feed, thefeedstock stream is desirably a slurry. The syngas produced in thegasification process is desirably used at least in part for makingchemicals. Many synthesis processes for making chemicals are at highpressure, and to avoid energy input into pressurizing the syngas stream,desirably the gasifier is also run at high pressure, particularly whenthe syngas stream is directly or indirectly in gaseous communicationwith a vessel in which a chemical is synthesized. Dry feeds to agasifier operating at high pressure are specially treated to ensure thatthe feed can be effectively blown and injected into the high-pressuregasification zone. Some techniques include entraining a flow of nitrogenat high pressure and velocity, which tends to dilute the syngas streamand reduce the concentration of desirably components such as carbonmonoxide and hydrogen. Other carrier or motive gases include carbonmonoxide, but like nitrogen, these gases are compressed before feedinginto or compressed with the solid fossil fuels, adding to the energyrequirements and capital cost of feed lock hoppers and/or compressingequipment. To deal with these issues, many dry feed gasifiers willoperate at lower pressures, which for the mere production of electricityis sufficient, but is undesirable for gasifiers producing a syngasstream for making chemicals. With a slurry feed, a motive gas is notnecessary and can readily be fed to a high-pressure gasifier thatproduces syngas as high pressure, which is desirable for makingchemicals. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the feedstock stream is not processed through a lock hopperprior to entering an injector or entering the gasification zone. Inanother embodiment, the feedstock composition containing ground plasticsand solid fossil fuel is not pressurized in a lock hopper.

Desirably, the gasifier is non-catalytic, meaning that gasifier does notcontain a catalyst bed, and desirably the gasification process isnon-catalytic, meaning that a catalyst is not introduced into thegasification zone as a discrete unbound catalyst (as opposed to captivemetals in the plastics or solid fossil fuel that can incidentally havecatalytic activity). The gasification process in the reaction zone isdesirably conducted in the absence of added catalysts and contains nocatalyst bed. The gasification process is also desirably a slagginggasification process; that is, operated under slagging conditions (wellabove the fusion temperature of ash) such that a molten slag is formedin the gasification zone and runs along and down the refractory walls.

In another embodiment, the gasifier is not designed to contain apyrolysis zone. Desirably, the gasifier is not designed to contain acombustion zone. Most preferably, the gasifier is designed to notcontain, or does not contain, either a combustion zone or a pyrolysiszone. The pyrolysis zone incompletely consumes the fuel source leadingto potentially high amounts of ash, char, and tarry products. Acombustion zone, while absent in tars, produces high amounts of CO2 andlower amounts of the more desirably carbon monoxide and hydrogen.Desirably, the gasifier is a single stage reactor, meaning that there isonly one zone for conversion of the carbon in the feedstock to gaseswithin the gasifier shell.

The gasification zone is void or empty space defined by walls in whichoxidation reactions occur and allow gases to form within the space.Desirably, gasification zone does not have a bath of molten material ormolten material that accumulates at the bottom of the gasification zoneto form a bath. The gasification zone is desirably not enclosed on thebottom but rather is in gaseous communication with other zones below thegasification zone. Slag, while molten, does not accumulate at the bottomof the gasification zone but rather runs down the sides of therefractory and into a zone below the gasification zone, such as a quenchzone to solidify the slag.

The flow of hot raw syngas in the gasifier desirably is verticallydownward, or a down-flow reactor. Desirably, the flow of syngasgenerated in the gasifier is downward from the highest point ofinjecting the feedstock stream, desirably from the point of allfeedstock stream locations. In another embodiment, the location forwithdrawing the syngas stream from the gasifier is lower that at leastone location for introducing the feedstock stream, desirably lower thanall locations for introducing a feedstock stream.

The gasifier desirably contains refractory lining in the gasificationzone. While a steam generating membrane or jacket between the gasifierwall and the surfaces facing the gasification zone can be employed,desirably the gasifier does not contain a membrane wall, or a steamgenerating membrane, or a steam jacket in the gasification zone orbetween inner surfaces facing the gasification zone and the gasifiershell walls as this removes heat from the gasification zone. Desirably,the gasification zone is lined with refractory, and optionally there isno air or steam or water jacket between the refractory lining thegasification zone (or optionally in any reaction zone such as combustionor pyrolysis) and the outer shell of the gasifier.

The gasification process is desirably a continuous process meaning thatthe gasifier operates in a continuous mode. The inclusion ofpre-granulated plastics into the feedstock stream can be intermittent orcontinuous provided that a continuous feed of fossil fuel is fed to thegasifier since the gasification process in the gasifier is in acontinuous mode. By a continuous mode for gasifier operation is meantthat the gasification process is continuous for at least 1 month, or atleast 6 months, or at least 1 year. Desirably, the inclusion ofgranulated plastics in the feedstock stream is continuous for at least 1day, or at least 3 days, or at least 14 days, or at least 1 month, or atleast 6 months, or at least 1 year. A process is deemed continuousdespite shut-downs due to maintenance or repair.

The feedstock can be fed into the gasification zone through one or moreinjectors. In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the gasifier contains only one injector. In anotherembodiment, the gasifier contains only one location for introducingfeedstock. Typically, the injector nozzle serving the gasificationchamber is configured to have the feedstock stream concentricallysurround the oxidizer gas stream along the axial core of the nozzle.Optionally, the oxidizer gas stream can also surround the feedstockstream annulus as a larger, substantially concentric annulus. Radiallysurrounding an outer wall of the outer oxidizer gas channel can be anannular cooling water jacket terminated with a substantially flatend-face heat sink aligned in a plane substantially perpendicular to thenozzle discharge axis. Cool water is conducted from outside thecombustion chamber into direct contact with the backside of the heatsink end-face for conductive heat extraction.

The reaction between the hydrocarbon and oxygen should take placeentirely outside the injector proper to prevent localized concentrationof combustible mixtures at or near the surfaces of the injectorelements.

The gasification zone, and optionally all reaction zones in the gasifierare operated at a temperature in the range of at least 1000° C., or atleast 1100° C., or at least 1200° C., or at least 1250° C., or at least1300° C., and up to about 2500° C., or up to 2000° C., or up to 1800°C., or up to 1600° C., each of which are well above the fusiontemperature of ash and are desirably operated to form a molten slag inthe reaction zone. In one embodiment or in combination with any of thementioned embodiments, the reaction temperature is desirably autogenous.Advantageously, the gasifier operating in steady state mode is at anautogenous temperature and does not require application of externalenergy sources to heat the gasification zone.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the gasifier does not contain a zone within the gasifiershell to dry feedstock such as the coal, pet-coke, or plastics prior togasification. The increase in temperature within the injector is notconsidered a zone for drying.

Desirably, the gasification zone is not under negative pressure duringoperations, but rather is under positive pressure during operation. Thegasification zone is desirably not equipped with any aspirator or otherdevice to create a negative pressure under steady state operation.

The gasifier is operated at a pressure within the gasification zone (orcombustion chamber) of at least 200 psig (1.38 MPa), or at least 300psig (2.06 MPa), or at least 350 psig (2.41 MPa), and desirably at least400 psig (2.76 MPa), or at least 420 psig (2.89 MPa), or at least 450psig (3.10 MPa), or at least 475 psig (3.27 MPa), or at least 500 psig(3.44 MPa), or at least 550 psig (3.79 MPa), or at least 600 psig (4.13MPa), or at least 650 psig (4.48 MPa), or at least 700 psig (4.82 MPa),or at least 750 psig (5.17 MPa), or at least 800 psig (5.51 MPa), or atleast 900 psig (6.2 MPa), or at least 1000 psig (6.89 MPa), or at least1100 psig (7.58 MPa), or at least 1200 psig (8.2 MPa). The particularoperating pressure on the high end is regulated with a variety ofconsiderations, including operating efficiency, the operating pressuresneeded in chemical synthesis reactors particularly with integratedplants, and process chemistry. Suitable operating pressures in thegasification zone on the high end need not exceed 1300 psig (8.96 MPa),or need not exceed 1250 psig (8.61 MPa), or need not exceed 1200 psig(8.27 MPa), or need not exceed 1150 psig (7.92 MPa), or need not exceed1100 psig (7.58 MPa), or need not exceed 1050 psig (7.23 MPa), or neednot exceed 1000 psig (6.89 MPa), or need not exceed 900 psig (6.2 MPa),or need not exceed 800 psig (5.51 MPa), or need not exceed 750 psig(5.17 MPa). Examples of suitable desirably ranges include 400 to 1000,or 425 to 900, or 450 to 900, or 475 to 900, or 500 to 900, or 550 to900, or 600 to 900, or 650 to 900, or 400 to 800, or 425 to 800, or 450to 800, or 475 to 800, or 500 to 800, or 550 to 800, or 600 to 800, or650 to 800, or 400 to 750, or 425 to 750, or 450 to 750, or 475 to 750,or 500 to 750, or 550 to 750, each in psig.

Desirably, the average residence time of gases in the gasifier reactoris desirably very short to increase throughput. Since the gasifier isdesirably operated at high temperature and pressure, substantiallycomplete conversion of the feedstock to gases can occur in a very shorttime frame. The average residence time of the gases in the gasifier canbe as short as less than 30 seconds, or not more than 25 seconds, or notmore than 20 seconds, or not more than 15 seconds, or not more than 10seconds, or not more than 7 seconds. Desirably, the average residencetime of gases in all zones designed for conversion of feedstock materialto gases is also quite short, e.g. less than 25 seconds, or not morethan 15 seconds, or not more than 10 seconds, or not more than 7seconds, or not more than 4 seconds. In these time frames, at least 85wt. %, or at least or more than 90 wt. %, or at least 92 wt. %, or atleast 94 wt. % of the solids in the feedstock can be converted to gases(substances which remain as a gas if the gas stream were cooled to 25°C. and 1 atm) and liquid (substances which are in liquid state if thegas stream is cooled to 25° C. and 1 atm such as water), or more than 93wt. %, or more than 95 wt. %, or more than 96 wt. %, or more than 97 wt.%, or more than 98 wt. %, or more than 99 wt. %, or more than 99.5 wt.%.

A portion of ash and/or char in the gasifier can be entrained in the hotraw syngas stream leaving the gasification reaction zone. Ash particlesin the raw syngas stream within the gasifier are particles which havenot reached the melting temperature of the mineral matter in the solidfuel. Slag is substantially molten ash or molten ash which hassolidified into glassy particles and remains within the gasifier. Slagis molten until quenched and then form beads of fused mineral matter.Char are porous particles that are devolatilized and partially combusted(incompletely converted) fuel particles. The particulate matter gatheredin the bottom part of the gasifier, or the quench zone, arepredominately slag (e.g. above 80 wt. % slag) and the remainder is charand ash. Desirably, only trace amounts of tar or no tar is present inthe gasifier, or in the quench zone, or in the gasification zone, orpresent in the hot raw syngas within the gasifier, or present in the rawsyngas discharged from the gasifier (which can be determined by theamount of tar condensing from the syngas stream when cooled to atemperature below 50° C.). Trace amounts are less than 0.1 wt. % (orless than 0.05 wt. % or less than 0.01 wt. %) of solids present in thegasifier, or less than 0.05 volume %, or not more than 0.01 vol %, ornot more than 0.005 vol %, or not more than 0.001 volume %, or not morethan 0.0005 vol %, or not more than 0.0001 vol % in the raw syngasstream discharged from the gasifier.

In another embodiment, the process does not increase the amount of tarto a substantial extent relative to the same process except replacingthe plastics with the same amount and type of solid fossil fuel used inthe mixed feedstock composition.

The quantity of tar generated in the process with the mixed feedstock isless than 10% higher, or less than 5% higher, or less than 3% higher, orless than 2% higher, or not higher at all, than the amount of targenerated with the same feedstock replacing the plastics with the samesolid fossil fuel under the same conditions.

To avoid fouling downstream equipment from the gasifier (scrubbers,CO/H2 shift reactors, acid gas removal, chemical synthesis), and thepiping in-between, the syngas stream should have low or no tar content.The syngas stream as discharged from the gasifier desirably contains noor less than 4 wt. %, or less than 3 wt. %, or not more than 2 wt. %, ornot more than 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.5 wt. %, or not more than 0.2wt. %, or not more than 0.1 wt. %, or not more than 0.08 wt. %, or notmore than 0.05 wt. %, or not more than 0.02 wt. %, or not more than 0.01wt. %, or nor more than 0.005 wt. % tar, based on the weight of allcondensable solids in the syngas stream. For purposes of measurement,condensable solids are those compounds and elements that condense at atemperature of 15° C./1 atm.

In another embodiment, the tar present, if at all, in the syngas streamdischarged from the gasifier is less than 10 g/m3 of the syngasdischarged, or not more than 9 g/m3, or not more than 8 g/m3, or notmore than 7 g/m3, or not more than 6 g/m3, or not more than 5 g/m3, ornot more than 4 g/m3, or not more than 3 g/m3, or not more than 2 g/m3,and desirably not more than 1 g/m3, or not more than 0.8 g/m3, or notmore than 0.75 g/m3, or not more than 0.7 g/m3, or not more than 0.6g/m3, or not more than 0.55 g/m3, or not more than 0.45 g/m3, or notmore than 0.4 g/m3, or not more than 0.3 g/m3, or not more than 0.2g/m3, or not more than 0.1 g/m3, or not more than 0.05 g/m3, or not morethan 0.01 g/m3, or not more than 0.005 g/m3, or not more than 0.001g/m3, or not more than 0.0005 g/m3, in each case Normal (15° C./1 atm).For purposes of measurement, the tars are those tars that would condenseat a temperature of 15° C./1 atm, and includes primary, secondary andtertiary tars, and are aromatic organic compounds and other than ash,char, soot, or dust. Examples of tar products include naphthalenes,cresols, xylenols, anthracenes, phenanthrenes, phenols, benzene,toluene, pyridine, catechols, biphenyls, benzofurans, benzaldehydes,acenaphthylenes, fluorenes, naphthofurans, benzanthracenes, pyrenes,acephenanthrylenes, benzopyrenes, and other high molecular weightaromatic polynuclear compounds. The tar content can be determined byGC-MSD.

In another embodiment, the tar yield of the gasifier (combination of tarin syngas and tar in reactor bottoms and in or on the ash, char, andslag) is not more than 4 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not morethan 2.5 wt. %, or not more than 2.0 wt. %, or not more than 1.8 wt. %,or not more than 1.5 wt. %, or not more than 1.25 wt. %, or not morethan 1 wt. %, or not more than 0.9 wt. %, or not more than 0.8 wt. %, ornot more than 0.7 wt. %, or not more than 0.5 wt. %, or not more than0.3 wt. %, or not more than 0.2 wt. %, or not more than 0.1 wt. %, ornot more than 0.05 wt. %, or not more than 0.01 wt. %, or not more than0.005 wt. %, or not more than 0.001 wt. %, or not more than 0.0005 wt.%, or not more than 0.0001 wt. %, based on the weight of solids in thefeedstock stream fed to the gasification zone.

Because of the gasification technique employed along with the very smallparticle size of the plastics, the amount of char generated by gasifyingthe plastic-solid fossil fuel feedstock stream can remain withinacceptable limits. For example, the amount of char (or incompletelyconverted carbon in the feedstock) generated by conversion of the carbonsources in the feedstock stream is not more than 15 wt. %, or not morethan 12 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, or not more than 8 wt. %, ornot more than 5 wt. %, or not more than 4.5 wt. %, or not more than 4wt. %, or not more than 3.5 wt. %, or not more than 3 wt. %, or not morethan 2.8 wt. %, or not more than 2.5 wt. %, or not more than 2.3 wt. %,or not more than 4.5 wt. %, or not more than 4.5 wt. %, or not more than4.5 wt. %.

In the process, char can be recycled back to the feedstock stream. Inanother embodiment, the efficiencies and features of the invention canbe obtained without recycling char back to the gasification zone.

The total amount of char (or incompletely converted carbon in thefeedstock) and slag generated in the gasifier or by the process isdesirably not more than 20 wt. %, or not more than 17 wt. %, or not morethan 15 wt. %, or not more than 13 wt. %, or not more than 10 wt. %, ornot more than 9 wt. %, or not more than 8.9 wt. %, or not more than 8.5wt. %, or not more than 8.3 wt. %, or not more than 8 wt. %, or not morethan 7.9 wt. %, or not more than 7.5 wt. %, or not more than 7.3 wt. %,or not more than 7 wt. %, or not more than 6.9 wt. %, or not more than6.5 wt. %, or not more than 6.3 wt. %, or not more than 6 wt. %, or notmore than 5.9 wt. %, or not more than 5.5 wt. %, in each case based onthe weight of the solids in the feedstock stream. In another embodiment,the same values apply with respect to the total amount of ash, slag, andchar generated in the gasifier or by the process, based on the weight ofthe solids in the feedstock stream. In another embodiment, the samevalues apply with respect to the total amount of ash, slag, char and targenerated in the gasifier or by the process, based on the weight of thesolids in the feedstock stream.

The raw syngas stream flows from the gasification zone to a quench zoneat the bottom of the gasifier where the slag and raw syngas stream arecooled, generally to a temperature below 550° C., or below 500° C., orbelow 450° C. The quench zone contains water in a liquid state. The hotsyngas from the gasification zone may be cooled by directly contactingthe syngas stream with liquid water. The syngas stream can be bubbledthrough the pool of liquid water, or merely contact the surface of thewater pool. In addition, the hot syngas stream may be cooled in a waterjacketed chamber having a height that above the top surface of the waterpool to allow the hot syngas to both contact the water pool and becooled in the water jacketed chamber. Molten slag is solidified by thequench water and most of the ash, slag and char are transferred to thewater in the quench tank. The partially cooled gas stream, having passedthrough the water in the quench zone, may be then discharged from thegasifier as a raw syngas stream and passed through a water scrubbingoperation to remove any remaining entrained particulate matter.

The pressure in the quench zone is substantially the same as thepressure in the gasification zone located above the water level in thegasifier, and a portion of the quench water and solids at the bottom ofthe quench tank is removed by way of a lock hopper system. A stream ofquench water carrying fine particles exits the gasifier quench zone inresponse to a liquid level controller and can be directed to a settler.The solids and water from the lock hopper may then flow into a watersump or settler where optionally the coarse particulate solids may beremoved by screens or filter thereby producing a dispersion of fineparticulate solids.

The raw gas stream discharged from the gasification vessel includes suchgasses as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and can includeother gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen depending onthe fuel source and reaction conditions. Carbon dioxide in the rawsyngas stream discharged from the gasification vessel is desirablypresent in an amount of less than 20 mole %, or less than 18 mole %, orless than 15 mole %, or less than 13 mole %, or not more than 11 mole %,based on all moles of gases in the stream. Some nitrogen and argon canbe present in the raw syngas stream depending upon the purity of thefuel and oxygen supplied to the process.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the raw syngas stream (the stream discharged from thegasifier and before any further treatment by way of scrubbing, shift, oracid gas removal) can have the following composition in mole % on a drybasis and based on the moles of all gases (elements or compounds ingaseous state at 25° C. and 1 atm) in the raw syngas stream:

-   -   a. H₂: 15 to 60, or 18 to 50, or 18 to 45, or 18 to 40, or 23 to        40, or 25 to 40, or 23 to 38, or 29 to 40, or 31 to 40    -   b. CO: 20 to 75, or 20 to 65, or 30 to 70, or 35 to 68, or 40 to        68, or 40 to 60, or 35 to 55, or 40 to 52    -   c. CO2: 1.0 to 30, or 2 to 25, or 2 to 21, or 10 to 25, or 10 to        20    -   d. H2O: 2.0 to 40.0, or 5 to 35, or 5 to 30, or 10 to 30    -   e. CH4: 0.0 to 30, or 0.01 to 15, or 0.01 to 10, or 0.01 to 8,        or 0.01 to 7, or 0.01 to 5, or 0.01 to 3, or 0.1 to 1.5, or 0.1        to 1    -   f. H2S: 0.01 to 2.0, or 0.05 to 1.5, or 0.1 to 1, or 0.1 to 0.5    -   g. COS: 0.05 to 1.0, or 0.05 to 0.7, or 0.05 to 0.3    -   h. Total sulfur: 0.015 to 3.0, or 0.02 to 2, or 0.05 to 1.5, or        0.1 to 1    -   i. N2: 0.0 to 5, or 0.005 to 3, or 0.01 to 2, or 0.005 to 1, or        0.005 to 0.5, or 0.005 to 0.3

The gas components can be determined by FID-GC and TCD-GC or any othermethod recognized for analyzing the components of a gas stream.

The molar hydrogen/carbon monoxide ratio is desirably at least 0.65, orat least 0.68, or at least 0.7, or at least 0.73, or at least 0.75, orat least 0.78, or at least 0.8, or at least 0.85, or at least 0.88, orat least 0.9, or at least 0.93, or at least 0.95, or at least 0.98, orat least 1.

The total amount of hydrogen and carbon monoxide relative to the totalamount of syngas discharged from the gasifier on a dry basis is high, onthe order of greater than 70 mole %, or at least 73 mole %, or at least75 mole %, or at least 77 mole %, or at least 79 mole %, or at least 80mole %, based on the syngas discharged.

In another embodiment, the dry syngas production expressed as gas volumedischarged from the gasifier per kg of solid fuel (e.g. plastics andcoal) charged to all locations on the gasifier is at least 1.7, or atleast 1.75, or at least 1.8, or at least 1.85, or at least 1.87, or atleast 1.9, or at least 1.95, or at least 1.97, or at least 2.0, in eachcase as N m3 gas/kg solids fed.

The carbon conversion efficiency in one pass is good and can becalculated according to the following formula:

$= {\frac{{{total}\mspace{14mu}{carbon}\mspace{14mu}{in}\mspace{14mu}{feed}} - {{total}\mspace{14mu}{carbon}\mspace{14mu}{in}\mspace{14mu}{char}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu}{tar}}}{{total}\mspace{14mu}{carbon}\mspace{14mu}{in}\mspace{14mu}{feed}} \times 100}$

The carbon conversion efficiency in the process in one pass can be atleast 70%, or at least 73%, or at least 75%, or at least 77%, or atleast 80%, or at least 82%, or at least 85%, or at least 88%, or atleast 90%, or at least 93%.

In another embodiment, the raw syngas stream contains particulate solidsin an amount of greater than 0 wt. % up to 30 wt. %, or greater than 0wt. % up to 10 wt. %, or greater than 0 wt. % up to 5 wt. %, or greaterthan 0 wt. % up to 1 wt. %, or greater than 0 wt. % up to 0.5 wt. %, orgreater than 0 wt. % up to 0.3 wt. %, or greater than 0 wt. % up to 0.2wt. %, or greater than 0 wt. % up to 0.1 wt. %, or greater than 0 wt. %up to 0.05 wt. %, each based on the weight of solids in the feedstockstream. The amount of particulate solids in this case is determined bycooling the syngas stream to a temperature of below 200° C., such aswould occur in a scrubbing operation.

The cold gas efficiency of the process using the mixed plastic/solidfossil fuel as a percent can be calculated as:

$= {\frac{{Produced}\mspace{14mu}{gas}\mspace{14mu}({mole}) \times {HHV}\mspace{14mu}( {{MJ}\mspace{14mu}{per}\mspace{14mu}{mole}} )}{{Feedstock}\mspace{14mu}({kg}) \times {HHV}\mspace{14mu}( {{MJ}\mspace{14mu}{per}\mspace{14mu}{kg}} )} \times 100}$

The cold gas efficiency is at least 60%, or at least 65%, or at least66%, or at least 67%, or at least 68%, or at least 69%, or desirably atleast 70%, or at least 71%, or at least 72%, or at least 73%, or atleast 74%, or at least 75%, or at least 76%, or at least 77%, or atleast 78%, or at least 79%.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the raw syngas streamdischarged from the gasifier or from a scrubbed or purified syngasstream are not recycled or recirculated back to a gasification zone in agasifier. Desirably, carbon dioxide from the raw syngas streamdischarged from the gasifier or from a scrubbed or purified syngasstream is not recycled or recirculated back to a gasification zone in agasifier. Desirably, no portion of the syngas stream discharged from thegasifier or from a scrubbed or purified syngas stream is recycled orrecirculated back to a gasification zone in a gasifier. In anotherembodiment, no portion of the syngas discharged from the gasifier isused to heat the gasifier. Desirably, no portion of the syngas made inthe gasifier is burned to dry the solid fossil fuel.

The feedstock stream is gasified with the oxidizer such as oxygendesirably in an entrained flow reaction zone under conditions sufficientto generate a molten slag and ash. The molten slag and ash are separatedfrom the syngas and quench cooled and solidified. In a partial oxidationreactor, the coal/plastic/water mixture is injected with oxygen and thecoal/rubber will react with oxygen to generate a variety of gases,including carbon monoxide and hydrogen (syngas). The molten slag andunreacted carbon/plastics accumulate into a pool of water in the quenchzone at the bottom part of the gasifier to cool and solidify theseresidues.

In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the slag discharged from the gasifier as a solid. Slag iscooled and solidified within the gasifier in a quench zone within theshell of the gasifier, and is discharged from the gasifier shell as asolid. The same applies to ash and char. These solids discharged fromthe gasifier are accumulated into a lock hopper which can then beemptied. The lock hopper is generally isolated from the gasifier and thequench zone within the gasifier.

The process can be practiced on an industrial scale and on a scalesufficient to provide syngas as a raw material to make chemicals on anindustrial scale. At least 300 tons/day, or at least 500 t/d, or atleast 750 t/d, or at least 850 t/d, or at least 1000 t/d, or at least1250 t/d, and desirably at least 1500 t/d, or at least 1750 t/d, or evenat least 2000 t/d of solids can be fed to the gasifier. The gasifier isdesirably not designed to be mobile and is fixed to the ground, anddesirably stationary during operations.

The syngas compositional variability produced by gasifying the feedstockcontaining the solid fossil fuel and plastics are quite low over time.In one embodiment or in combination with any of the mentionedembodiments, the compositional variability of the syngas stream is lowduring a time period when the feedstock stream contains the solid fossilfuel and the pre-ground plastics. The compositional variability of thesyngas stream can be determined by taking at least 6 measurements of theconcentration of the relevant gaseous compound in moles in equal timesub-periods across the entire time that the feedstock solids content areconsistent and contain plastics, such entire time not to exceed 12 days.The mean concentration of the gaseous compound is determined over the 6measurements. The absolute value of the difference between the numberfarthest away from the mean and the mean number is determined anddivided into the mean number×100 to obtain a percent compositionalvariability.

The compositional variability of any one of:

-   -   a. CO amount, or    -   b. H₂ amount, or    -   c. CO2 amount, or    -   d. CH4 amount, or    -   e. H2S amount, or    -   f. COS amount, or    -   g. H2+CO amount, or its molar ratio in sequence (e.g. H2:CO        ratio), or    -   h. H2+CO+CO2 amount, or its molar ratio in sequence, or    -   i. H2+CO+CH4 amount, or its molar ratio in sequence, or    -   j. H2+CO+CO2+CH4 amount, or its molar ratio in sequence, or    -   k. H2S+COS amount, or its molar ratio in sequence, or    -   l. H2+CO+CO₂+CH₄+H₂S+COS,        can be not more than 5%, or not more than 4%, or not more than        3%, or not more than 2%, or not more than 1%, or not more than        0.5%, or not more than 0.25% during the shorter of a 12-day        period or the time that plastics are present in the feedstock        composition.

In another embodiment, variability of the syngas stream generated by themixed feedstock containing plastics (“mixed case”) is compared to thebenchmark variability of the syngas stream generated from the samefeedstock without the plastics and its amount replaced by acorresponding amount of the same fossil fuel (“solid fossil fuel onlycase”) and processed under the same conditions to obtain a % switchingvariability, or in other words, the syngas variability generated byswitching between the two feedstock compositions. The variation of themixed case can be less than, or no different than, or if higher can besimilar to the variation of the solid fossil fuel only case. The timeperiods to determine variations is set by the shorter of a 12-day periodor the time that plastics are present in the feedstock composition, andthat time period is the same time period used for taking measurements inthe solid fossil fuels only case. The measurements for the solid fossilfuels only case are taken within 1 month before feeding a feedstockcontaining plastics to the gasifier or after the expiration of feeding afeedstock containing plastics to the gasifier. The variations in syngascomposition made by each of the streams is measured according to theprocedures states above. The syngas mixed case variability is less than,or the same as, or not more than 15%, or not more than 10%, or not morethan 5%, or not more than 4%, or not more than 3%, or not more than 2%,or not more than 1%, or not more than 0.5%, or not more than 0.25% ofthe syngas solid fossil fuel only case. This can be calculated as:

${\%{SV}} = {\frac{V_{m} - V_{ff}}{V_{ff}} \times 100}$

where % SW is percent syngas switching variability on one or moremeasured ingredients in the syngas composition; andV_(m) is the syngas compositional variability using the mixed streamcontaining plastics and the fossil fuel; andV_(ff) is the syngas compositional variability using the fossil fuelonly stream, where the solids concentration is the same in both cases,the fossil fuel is the same in both cases, and the feedstocks aregasified under the same conditions, other than temperature fluctuationswhich may autogeneously differ as a result of having plastics in thefeedstock, and the variabilities are with respect to any one or more ofthe syngas compounds identified above. In the event that the % SV isnegative, then the syngas mixed case variability is less than the syngassolid fossil fuel only case.

In another embodiment, the ratio of carbon monoxide/hydrogen generatedfrom a stream of plastics and solid fossil fuel (mixed stream) issimilar to the carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio generated from the samestream replacing the plastics content with the same solid fossil fuel(ff only stream). The carbon monoxide/hydrogen ratio between the mixedstream and ff only stream can be within 10%, or within 8%, or within 6%,or within 5%, or within 4%, or within 3%, or within 2%, or within 1.5%,or within 1%, or within 0.5% of each other. The percentage similaritycan be calculated by taking the absolute value of the differences inCO/H₂ ratios between the mixed and ff only streams and dividing thatnumber into the CO/H2 ratio of the ff only stream×100.

In another embodiment, the amount of CO2 generated from a stream ofplastics and solid fossil fuel (mixed stream) is similar to the amountof carbon dioxide generated from a ff only stream. The process of theinvention can be conducted such that the amount of CO₂ generated from astream of plastics and solid fossil fuel (mixed stream) is no more than25%, or no more than 20%, or no more than 15%, or no more than 13%, orno more than 10%, or no more than 8%, or no more than 7%, or no morethan 6%, or no more than 5%, or no more than 4%, or no more than 3%, orno more than 2%, or no more than 1%, or no more than 0.75%, or no morethan 0.5%, or nor more than 0.25%, or no more than 0.15%, or no morethan 0.1% of the amount of carbon dioxide generated from a ff onlystream (e.g. coal). The percentage similarity can be calculated bysubtracting the amount of CO₂ generated in a syngas stream using themixed stream from the amount of CO₂ generated in a syngas stream usingthe ff only stream, and dividing that number by the CO2 generated in asyngas stream using the ff only stream×100.

In another embodiment, there is provided a continuous process forfeeding a gasifier with a continuous feedstock composition containingsolid fossil fuel and intermittently feeding a feedstock compositioncontaining plastics and solid fossil fuel, while maintaining a negative,zero, or minimal syngas compositional switching variability over timeframes that includes feedstocks with and without the plastics usingsyngas produced using feedstocks without the plastics as the benchmark.For example, switching frequency between feedstocks without the plastics(FF only) and the identical feedstocks except replacing a portion of thesolids with the plastics (Mixed) can be at least 52×/yr, or at least48×/yr, or at least 36×/yr, or at least 24×/yr, or at least 12×/yr, orat least 6×/yr, or at least 4×/yr, or at least 2×/yr, or at least 1×/yr,or at least 1×/2 yr, and up to 3×/2 yr, without incurring a syngasswitching variability beyond the percentages express above. One switchis counted as the number of times in a period that the Mixed feedstockis used.

To illustrate an example of the overall process, reference made toFIG. 1. Coal is fed through line 1 into a coal grinding zone 2 whereinit is mixed with a water from stream 3 and ground to the desiredparticle size. A suitable coal grinding process includes a shearingprocess. Examples of a suitable apparatus include ball mill, a rod mill,hammer mill, a raymond mill, or an ultrasonic mill; desirably a rodmill. The rod mill is desirably the wet grind type to prepare a slurry.A rod mill contains a number of rods within a cylinder where the rodsrotate about a horizontal or near horizontal axis. The coal is groundwhen it is caught between the rods and cylinder wall by therolling/rotating action of the rods. The rod mill can be the overflowtype, end peripheral discharge, and center peripheral discharge,desirably the overflow type.

The grinder can also be equipped with a classifier to remove particlesabove the target maximum particle size. An example of a classifier is avibrating sieve or a weir spiral classifier.

The coal grinder zone (which includes at least the grinding equipment,feed mechanisms to the grinder, and any classifiers) is a convenientlocation for combining pre-ground plastic particles through line 4 tothe coal. The desired amount of coal and plastics can be combined onto aweigh belt or separately fed though their dedicated weigh belts thatfeed the grinding apparatus. The water slurry of ground coal andplastics are discharged through line 5 and pumped into a storage/chargetank 6 that is desirably agitated to retain a uniform slurry suspension.Alternatively, or in addition to the grinder 2 location, pre-groundplastics can be added into the charge/storage tank 6 through line 7,particularly when this tank is agitated.

The feedstock stream is discharged from tank 6 directly or indirectly tothe gasifier 9 through line 8 into the injector 10 in which thecoal/rubber/water slurry is co-injected with an oxygen-rich gas fromline 11 into the gasification reaction zone 12 where combustion takesplace. The injector 10 may optionally be cooled with a water line 13feeding a jacket on the injector and discharged through line 14. Afterstart-up and in a steady state, the reaction in the reaction zone 12takes place spontaneously at an autogenous temperature in the rangesnoted above, e.g. 1200° C. to 1600° C. and at a pressure in the rangesnote above, e.g. 10-100 atmospheres. The gaseous reaction products ofthe partial oxidation reaction include carbon monoxide, hydrogen, withlesser amounts of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. Molten ash,unconverted coal or rubber, and slag may also be present in the reactionzone 12.

The gasifier 9 is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 2, also as shown inU.S. Pat. No. 3,544,291, the entire disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference. The gasifier comprises a cylindrical pressurevessel 50 with a refractory lining 75 defining a cylindrical, compact,unpacked reaction zone 54. The mixture of coal, plastics, water andoxygen is injected through an injector axially into the upper end ofreaction zone 54 through inlet passageway 76. Products of reaction aredischarged axially from the lower end of reaction zone 54 through anoutlet passageway 77 into a slag quench chamber 71. The quench chamber71 and the reaction zone 54 are within the outer shell 50 of thegasifier and are in continuous gaseous and fluid communication with eachother during the combustion and reaction in reaction zone 54. A pool ofwater 78 is maintained in the lower portion of quench chamber 71 and awater jacket 79 is provided in the upper portion of the quench chamber71 to protect the pressure vessel shell from becoming overheated by hotgases from the gasification zone 54. Unconverted solid fuel and moltenslag and ash from the solid fuel is discharged with the product gasstream through outlet 77 into the quench chamber 71 where the largerparticles of solid and any molten ash or slag drops into the pool ofwater. The partially cooled gas is discharged from the quench chamber 71through line 58, which optionally is also provided with a refractorylining 75.

Turning back to FIG. 1, the hot reaction product gas from reaction zone12 along with the slag formed on the surfaces of refractory facing thereaction zone 12 are discharged into the quench chamber 15 where theyare quickly cooled and solidified below the reaction temperature in zone12 to form solid slag, ash, and unconverted coal which separates fromthe hot raw syngas to form a raw syngas stream which is discharged fromthe gasifier vessel. The process effectuates a separation of ash, slag,and unconverted products from the reaction product gases, and has theadvantage over a fixed or moving bed waste gasifier in that within thegasifier vessel, a first step of purification of the gaseous reactionproducts from the reaction zone 12 has occurred prior to discharging theraw syngas stream from the gasification vessel. At the same time thatthe slag and vaporized unconverted fossil fuel elements are solidifiedin the quench water in quench zone 15, and part of the quench water isvaporized producing steam which is useful in subsequent operations, forexample, for the water-gas shift reaction of the scrubbed raw syngasstream in which hydrogen is produced by reaction of carbon monoxide withwater vapor in the presence of a suitable catalyst such as an ironoxide-chromic oxide catalyst.

The temperature of the raw syngas stream exiting the gasification vesselthrough line 16 can be within a range of 150° C. to 700° C., or from175° C. to 500° C. Desirably, the temperature of the raw syngasdischarged from the gasifier is not more than 500° C., or less than 400°C., or not more than 390° C., or not more than 375° C., or not more than350° C., or not more than 325° C., or not more than 310° C., or not morethan 300° C., or not more than 295° C., or not more than 280° C., or notmore than 270° C. The temperature of the raw syngas exiting thegasification vessel is substantially reduced from the temperature of thereaction product gases within the reaction zone. The temperaturereduction between the gasification zone gas temperature (oralternatively all reaction zones if more than one stage is used) and theraw syngas temperature discharged from the gasifier vessel can be atleast 300° C., or at least 400° C., or at least 450° C., or at least500° C., or at least 550° C., or at least 600° C., or at least 650° C.,or at least 700° C., or at least 800° C., or at least 900° C., or atleast 1000° C., or at least 1050° C., or at least 1100° C.

As shown in FIG. 1, the raw syngas is discharged from the gasifierthrough line 16 to a suitable scrubber 17 where it is contacted withwater from line 18 for the removal of remaining solid particles from theraw syngas stream. Gas scrubber 17 may comprise a venturi scrubber, aplate type scrubber or a packed column, or a combination thereof, inwhich raw syngas stream is intimately contacted with water to effect theremoval of solid particles from the raw syngas stream. The scrubbed rawsyngas stream is discharged through line 19 for further use in otherprocesses, such as acid gas (e.g. sulfur compounds) removal processes tomake the resulting purified syngas stream suitable for manufacture ofchemicals. Suitable process for acid gas removal include the Rectisol™and Selexol™ acid gas removal processes. Once the sulfur species areremoved from the syngas stream, elemental sulfur can be recovered andconverted to sulfuric acid and other sulfur products that can becommercialized through processes such as the Claus™ process.

As shown in FIG. 1, the solids-water mixture from gas scrubber 17 isdischarged from the scrubber passed through line 20 optionally to line21 where it is mixed with quench water containing solids drawn fromquench zone 15 via line 22 and the mixture passed through pressurereducing valve 23 into settling tank 24. A heat exchanger 25 serves toheat by heat exchange with hot quench water from line 22 the relativelycool make-up and recycle water supplied through line 26 from a suitablesource and pumped to lines for quenching and/or scrubbing the productgas from the gas generator.

Solids, including unconverted particulate coal, settle by gravity fromthe water in settling tank 24 and are drawn off through line 27 as aconcentrated slurry of ash, unconverted coal and soot in water. Thisslurry may be optionally be recycled to grinding zone 2 via line 28. Ifdesired, a portion of the slurry from line 27 may be diverted throughline 29 into mix tank 6 to adjust the concentration of solids in thewater-coal-rubber slurry feedstream charged to the gasifier. Also, asshown in FIG. 2, water and solids from settler tank 66 may be drawn offin line 83 for processing, while water and ash, unconverted coal andsoot may be drawn off the settle tank 66 through line 84 and combinedwith the feedstock of coal, plastics and water.

As shown in FIG. 1, gases released in settler 24 may be dischargedthrough line 30 and recovered as potential fuel gases. Clarified waterfrom settler 24 is withdrawn through line 31 and recirculated to thequench water system through line 32. A portion of the water from line32, after passing through heat exchanger 25, is supplied to the quenchzone 15 through line 33 and a further portion of the water is passedthrough line 18 to gas scrubber 17. Further, water from the quench zonecan be withdrawn through line 22 to settler 24 through a control valve23. The water level can be controlled through a liquid level controlleron the gasifier to maintain a substantially constant water level inquench zone.

Alternatively, or in addition, the quench water through line 33 feedingthe quench water zone can supplied from a syngas scrubber downstreamfrom the gasifier as shown in FIG. 2. The quench water stream optionallyalso fed to the quench zone may be clarified or may contain from about0.1 weight % soot to about 1.5 weight % soot based on the weight of thequench water stream feeding the gasifier.

If desired, high temperature surfactants can be added to the quenchwater directly into the quench zone/chamber. Examples of suchsurfactants include any one of the surfactants mentioned above tostabilize the feedstock stream, such as ammonium lignosulfonate or anequivalent surfactant which is thermally stable at temperatures of about300° F. to about 600° F. Other surfactants include organic phosphates,sulfonates and amine surfactants. The surfactants are used to establisha stable suspension of soot in the water at the bottom of the quenchchamber, where the soot concentration can be at least 1 wt. %, or in therange of about 3.0 weight % to about 15.0 weight %, each based on theweight of the water in the quench chamber. The concentration of activesurfactants in the bottom of the quench zone can vary from about 0.01weight % to about 0.30 weight %.

Also, as illustrated in FIG. 2, an internal water jacket 79 is providedwithin the pressure vessel shell 50 at the upper portion of the quenchzone 71. Water jacket 79 prevents overheating of the pressure vesselshell below the level of refractory 75 surrounding reaction zone 54.Water is introduced into water jacket 79 from line 80 and dischargedtherefrom through line 81 through valve 82 and can be fed directly orindirectly (through a settler tank 66) to a scrubber 59.

As shown in FIG. 1, periodically slag and other heavy incombustiblesolids settling to the bottom of quench zone 15 are withdrawn as awater-solids slurry through line 34 and valve 35 into lock hopper 36.Accumulated solid material from lock hopper 36 is discharged throughline 37 as controlled by valve 38. In the operation of the lock hopper,valve 35 is opened and valve 38 closed during the filling period inwhich solid material from quench chamber 15 is transferred to lockhopper 36. Valve 35 is then closed and the lock hopper 36 emptiedthrough line 37 by opening valve 38. From lock hopper 36, solid residueand water are discharged through line 37. The equivalent equipment andlines are shown in FIG. 2 as outlet 85, valves 86 and 88, line 89, andlock hopper 87.

In an alternative embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, fresh water can becharged to the lock hopper 36 to displace the sour water in the lockhopper 36. Cold clean water from line 39 is introduced through valve 40into the lower part of lock hopper 36. Valve 41 in line 42 is opened toestablish communication between line 33 and lock hopper 36. As the coldclean water enters the lower part of lock hopper 36, hot sour water isdisplaced from the lock hopper and flows through line 42 and line 33into the quench zone 15 as part of the make-up water for the quenchsystem. After the sour water has been displaced from lock hopper 36valves 40 and 41 are closed and valve 38 opened to permit discharge ofslag and clean water from the lock hopper through line 37.

In an alternate embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, stripping gas such ascarbon dioxide, or gases produced by the gasifier from which acid gaseshave been removed by chemical treatment, can be introduced into thelower portion of lock hopper 36 through line 43 after the lock hopperhas been charged with slag and sour water from the quench zone 15 andvalve 35 closed. Stripping gas under pressure is introduced into thelower portion of lock hopper 36 by opening valve 44 in line 43. At thesame time, valve 41 in line 42 is opened allowing gas to pass throughlines 42 and 33 into the quench zone 15. The stripping gas from line 43desorbs sour gases, i.e. sulfides, cyanides, and other noxious gases,from the water in lock hopper 36. When the desorbed gases are introducedback into the gasifier, they mix with hot product gases and, afterpassing through the quench zone are discharged through line 16 to gasscrubber 17 as a part of the product gas stream for further purificationand utilization.

To illustrate one embodiment of an injector, reference is made to FIG.3, showing a partial cut-away view of a synthesis gas gasifier at theinjector location. The gasifier vessel includes a structural shell 90and an internal refractory liner 91 (or multiple liners) around anenclosed gasification zone 93. Projecting outwardly from the shell wallis an injector mounting neck 94 for supporting an elongated fuelinjection injector assembly 95 within the gasifier vessel. The injectorassembly 95 is aligned and positioned so that the face 96 of theinjector nozzle 97 is substantially flush with the inner surface of therefractory liner 91. An injector mounting flange 96 secures the injectorassembly 95 to a mounting neck flange 97 of the gasifier vessel toprevent the injector assembly 95 from becoming ejected during operation.A feed of oxygen flows into a central inner nozzle through conduit 98.The feedstock stream is fed to the injector assembly through line 99into an annular space around the central oxidant nozzle. A coolingjacket surrounding the injector assembly 95 above the injector mountingflange 96 is fed with cooling water 100 to prevent the injector assemblyfrom overheating. An optional second feed of oxidant flows through line101 into an annular space around at least a portion of the outer surfaceof the shell defining the feedstock annulus.

A more detailed view of the injector is shown in FIG. 4. A sectionalview of a portion of the injector assembly 80 toward the injector nozzletip is illustrated. The injector assembly 80 includes an injector nozzleassembly 125 comprising three concentric nozzle shells and an outercooling water jacket 110. The inner nozzle shell 111 discharges from anaxial bore opening 112 the oxidizer gas that is delivered along upperassembly axis conduit 98 in FIG. 3. Intermediate nozzle shell 113 guidesthe feedstock stream into the gasification zone 93. As a fluidizedsolid, this coal slurry is extruded from the annular space 114 definedby the inner shell wall 111 and the intermediate shell wall 113. Theouter, oxidizer gas nozzle shell 115 surrounds the outer nozzledischarge annulus 116. The upper assembly port 101, as shown in FIG. 3,supplies the outer nozzle discharge annulus with an additional stream ofoxidizing gas. Centralizing fins 117 and 118 extend laterally from theouter surface of the inner and intermediate nozzle shell walls 111 and113, respectively to keep their respective shells coaxially centeredrelative to the longitudinal axis of the injector assembly. It will beunderstood that the structure of the fins 117 and 118 form discontinuousbands about the inner and intermediate shells and offer small resistanceto fluid flow within the respective annular spaces.

The internal nozzle shell 111 and intermediate nozzle shell 113 can bothbe axially adjustable relative to the outer nozzle shell 115 for thepurpose flow capacity variation. As intermediate nozzle 113 is axiallydisplaced from the conically tapered internal surface of outer nozzle115, the outer discharge annulus 116 is enlarged to permit a greateroxygen gas flow. Similarly, as the outer tapered surface of the internalnozzle 111 is axially drawn toward the internally conical surface of theintermediate nozzle 113, the feedstock slurry discharge area 114 isreduced.

Surrounding the outer nozzle shell 115 is a coolant fluid jacket 110having an annular end closure 119. A coolant fluid conduit 120 deliversa coolant, such as water, from the upper assembly supply port 100 inFIG. 3 directly to the inside surface of the end closure plate 119. Flowchanneling baffles 121 control the path of coolant flow around the outernozzle shell to assure a substantially uniform heat extraction and toprevent the coolant from channeling and producing localized hot spots.The end closure 119 includes a nozzle lip 122 that defines an exitorifice or discharge opening for the feeding of reaction materials intothe injection injector assembly.

The planar end of the cooling jacket 119 includes an annular surface 123which is disposed facing the combustion chamber. Typically, the annularsurface 123 of cooling jacket is composed of cobalt base metal alloymaterials. Although cobalt is the preferred material of construction forthe nozzle assembly 125, other high temperature melting point alloys,such as molybdenum or tantalum may also be used. The heat shield 124 isformed from a high temperature melting point material such as siliconnitride, silicon carbide, zirconia, molybdenum, tungsten or tantalum.

While this discussion was based on a injector and feed streamarrangement as previously described, it is understood that the injectormay consist of only two passages for introducing and injecting theoxidant and feedstock stream, and they may be in any order with thefeedstock stream passing through the central axial bore opening whilethe feedstock is fed through an annulus surrounding at least a portionof the central oxidant conduit, or the order may be reversed asdescribed above.

An example of the operation of the gasifier and scrubber is illustratedin FIG. 2. The coal/plastics feedstock slurry is fed to the gasgenerator 50 through injector 51 mounted at the top 52 of the gasifierand is fed with oxygen through line 53 and injected into thegasification zone 54 to generate a raw syngas. The raw syngas gasesdischarged from the gasifier is fed to a contactor 55. Water is injectedinto contactor 55 from line 56 through injectors 56 and 57. Intimatecontact between the raw syngas from line 58 and water from line 56 iseffected desirably by way of a venturi, nozzle, or plate orifice. Incontactor 55, the syngas stream is accelerated, and water is injectedinto the accelerated gas stream at the throat of the nozzle, venturi ororifice, from a plurality of injectors 56 and 57.

The resulting mixture of gas and water formed in contactor 55 isdirected into scrubber 59 through a dip leg 60 which extends downwardlyinto the lower portion of scrubber 59. The gas stream from contactor 55also carries entrained solid particles of unconsumed fuel or ash. A bodyof water is maintained in the scrubber 59, the level of which may becontrolled in any suitable manner, for example by means of a liquidlevel controller 61, shown diagrammatically. The dip leg 60 dischargesthe mixture of water and gas below the level of water contained in thescrubber 59. By discharging the mixture of gas and water through theopen end of dip leg 60 into intimate contact with water, solid particlesfrom the gas stream are trapped in the water.

Scrubber 59 is suitably in the form of a tower having an optionallypacked section 62 above the point of entry of the gas stream fromcontactor 55. Water from line 63 is introduced into scrubber 59 abovethe level of the packing material 62. In packed section 62, the gasstream is intimately contacted with water in the presence of suitablepacking material, such as ceramic shapes, effecting substantiallycomplete removal of solid particles from the gas stream. Product gas,comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen and containing water vapor,atmospheric gases, and carbon dioxide, is discharged from the upper endof scrubber 59 through line 64 at a temperature corresponding to theequilibrium vaporization temperature of water at the pressure existingin scrubber 59. Clean syngas from line 64 may be further processed, forexample, for the production of higher concentrations of hydrogen bywater-gas shift reaction and suitable downstream purification to removesulfur.

Water from the lower portion of scrubber 59 is passed by pump 65 throughline 56 to injectors 56 and 57. Clarified water from settler 66 also maybe supplied to line 56 by pump 67 through line 68. Water is withdrawnfrom scrubber 59 by pump 69 and passed through valve 70 responsive toliquid level control 61 on the scrubber and passed into quench zone 71via line 72 to control the liquid level in scrubber 59.

Any heavy solid particles removed from the gas stream in the dip leg 60settling into water slurry are collected the water bath at the bottom ofthe scrubber 59 and discharged at the bottom leg 73 at periodicintervals through line 74 as controlled by valve 75.

Any suitable scrubber design can be used in the process. Other scrubberdesigns include a tray type contacting tower wherein the gases arecounter currently contacted with water. Water is introduced into thescrubber at a point near the top of the tower.

EXAMPLES Example 1

Plastics are milled to a nominal particle size between 1 mm and 0.5 mm.Coal is dried and crushed in a Retsch jaw crusher to a nominal size of<2 mm. A predetermined amount of water is added to a 4.5 L metal bucket.Ammonium lignosulfonate is added to the water in the metal bucket andmixed with a spatula until it is distributed evenly. Ground plastics andcoal are added to the water and ALS mixture in the metal bucket and thenthe blend is mixed by an overhead mixer. Aqueous ammonia is added to theslurry to adjust the pH to 8±0.2. After being well mixed, the sample isplaced in the laboratory rod mill equipped with 5 stainless steel rodsat ½″×9″, 8 rods at ⅝″×9″, 8 rods at ¾″×9″, 2 rods at 1″×9″, and 1 rodat 1¼″×9″. The slurry is milled for 1 hour at approximately 28 rpm (milloutside diameter=11.75 inches). The aqueous ammonia is again used toadjust the pH to 8±0.2 while the slurry is mixed by the overhead mixer.Each batch of slurry is made to be a total of approximately 3000 gramswith approximately 69% solids with varying amounts of recycled materialsas reported in Table 1 below. Viscosity and stability tests areconducted with the results listed in Table 1.

500-550 g samples of coal slurry are transferred to a 600 mL glassbeaker to measure the viscosity and stability. The stability of eachsample can be judged by visual observation. The slurry is well mixed togenerate a homogeneous distribution of particles throughout the sampleand letting the slurry sit undisturbed for a period of time. The slurryis then remixed. If a layer of particles separated out at the bottom ofthe beaker, the slurry will be difficult to remix, and it is thenconsidered to have settled. Over a period of time, the slurries willhave settling. However, the longer the amount of time required to settledetermines whether the stability of the slurry is considered good,moderate, or poor. If the slurry settles before 5 minutes, it isconsidered poor.

In an alternative method, the stability of the slurry can be determinedquantitively. The viscosities of the slurry samples are measured at roomtemperature using either a Brookfield viscometer with an LV-2 spindlerotating at a rate of 0.5 rpm (method A) or a Brookfield R/S rheometerwith V80-40 vane spindle operating at a shear rate of 1.83/s (method B).An average of 3 viscosity measurements is reported.

The stability is measured, by either Method A or Method B, by submergingthe spindle of the rheometer into the slurry at the bottom of the beakerafter the slurry is well mixed to form a homogeneous distribution ofsolids. After a designated period of time, the viscosity is measuredwith the spindle at the bottom of the beaker. The viscosity increaseswith settling and the slurry is considered to have settled if theinitial reading on starting a viscosity measurement is 100,000 cP. Thus,slurries are considered stable if the initial viscosity is 100,000 cP orless after standing still for 5 minutes.

The pumpability of a slurry is measured by Method A or Method B. Theslurry is considered pumpable if the viscosity reading is 30,000 cP orless (desirably 25,000 or less or better is 20,000 or less) when takinga reading immediately after well mixing the slurry to form a homogeneousdistribution of solids.

The results of stability are determined by visual observation, and theresults of pumpability are reported in Table 1 in the viscosity columnusing Method A. The ground plastic is virgin PET pellets milled to a 1mm nominal size or smaller. Stability is determined at the 5-minutemark.

TABLE 1 Effect of increasing ground plastic loadings on coal-waterslurry properties. Substrate Substrate Substrate Target Measured ID % ofsolids % of total ALS % Solids % Solids % Viscosity^(a) StabilityOverall Control   0%   0% 0.40% 69% 69.5%  4040 cP Moderate Good PET 1.5%  1.0% 0.20% 69% 68.9% 12590 cP Good Good PET  3.0%  2.0% 0.40% 69%70.1% 11230 cP Good Good PET 17.1% 10.0% 0.40% 69% 69.4% 11093 cP GoodGood PET 41.2% 20.0% 0.40% 69% 70.3% 16000 cP Good Good PET 61.7% 26.2%0.35% 69% 68.5% 13440 cP Good Good ^(a)Measured by method A.

All of the mixtures tested up to 61.7% of the solids (26.2% of the totalslurry) demonstrate good slurry properties and would be usable in thegasifier. At low loadings the stability of the slurry is good.

Example 2

Batches of a coal/plastic slurry are prepared as stated in Example 1 andin the amounts reported in Table 2 using low density polyethylene as theplastic. The results of stability and pumpability are reported below inTable 2 using Method B in each case. A report of “stable” in thestability column indicates a viscosity reading of less than 100,000 cPat the time period stated.

TABLE 2 Effect of increasing ground LDPE loadings on coal-water slurryproperties. Substrate Substrate Target Measured Substrate % of % of ALSSolids Solids Stability Stability Stability ID solids total % % %Viscosity 5 min 10 min 20 min Overall Control 0%   0% 0.20% 69% 69.4%4554 cP Stable Stable Stable Good LDPE 2% 1.4% 0.20% 69% 70.0% 5357 cPStable Stable Stable Good LDPE 5% 3.4% 0.20% 69% 69.8% 9293 cP StableStable Stable Good LDPE 10%  6.9% 0.40% 69% 68.6% 50622 cP  Stable NA NAToo Viscous

All samples remained stable at 5 minutes. However, at a 10% of solidsloading, the LDPE sample would be considered too viscous to beeffectively pumpable.

Example 3

All recycle plastics are size reduced and ground such that they passthrough a 1.5 mm screen. Batches of a coal/recycle plastic slurry areprepared as stated in Example 1 and in the amounts reported in Table 2using a variety of different types of plastics according to the legendbelow. The results of stability and pumpability are reported below inTable 2 using Method B in each case.

The following legend describes the plastics employed:

PEX: crosslinked polyethyleneLDPE: Low-density polyethylenePET: Polyethylene terephthalateCDA: Cellulose diacetateDEP: Diethyl phthalateHDPE: High-density polyethyleneAcetate Tow: Cellulose acetate tow

Substrate Substrate Target Substrate % of % of ALS Solids ID solidstotal % % Viscosity Stability Overall Control    0%   0% 0.40% 69%5222 >20 min Good PEX  2.00% 1.38% 0.20% 69% 14247 >20 min Good PEX 5.00% 3.45% 0.20% 69% 4492 >20 min Good PEX 10.00% 6.90% 0.20% 69%8858 >20 min Good PEX 12.00% 8.28% 0.20% 69% 12083 >20 min Good PEX15.00% 10.35%  0.20% 69% 20971 >20 min Good PEX 17.00% 11.73%  0.20% 69%37963.508   20 min Too Thick PEX 20.00% 13.80%  0.20% 69% 34401.154   10min Too Thick Substrate Substrate Actual Substrate % of % of ALS SolidsID solids total % % Viscosity Stability Overall Control   0%   0% 0.20%69.4% 5945 >20 min Good LDPE film 2.00% 1.38% 0.20% 70.0% 5357 >20 minGood LDPE film 5.00% 3.45% 0.20% 69.8% 9293 >20 min Good LDPE Film10.00%  6.90% 0.40% 68.6% 50622 <20 min Too Thick Substrate SubstrateActual Substrate % of % of ALS Solids ID solids total % % ViscosityStability Overall Control 0%   0% 0.20% 69.4% 4554 >20 min   Good PET(DCF) 2% 1.38% 0.20% 69.4% 2769 15 min Good PET (DCF) 5% 3.45% 0.20%69.5% 3536 15 min Good PET (DCF) 10%  6.90% 0.20% 68.8% 7731 15 min GoodPET (ECF) 2% 1.38% 0.20% 69.8% 2699 >20 min   Good PET (ECF) 5% 3.45%0.20% 69.2% 2571 15 min Good PET (ECF) 10%  6.90% 0.20% 68.9% 2990 15min Good PET (ECF) 15%  10.35%  0.40% 69.8% 3896 >20 min   Good Percentof Average Viscosity after 5 Slurry Substrate Solids Viscosity (cP)Stable? minutes settling Acceptable? Control 1 0 2953 yes 5278 yes CDA w25% DEP 2 5314 yes 12462 yes HDPE 2 5934 yes 4265 yes PEX 2 5934 yes15475 yes Acetate tow 0.5 21510 yes 25980 no Acetate tow 2 could notcreate slurry - tow absorbed too much water no

What we claim is:
 1. A process for the production of syngas comprising:a. charging an oxidant and a feedstock composition to a gasificationzone within a gasifier, said feedstock composition comprising a solidfossil fuel and comprising plastics present in an amount up to 25 wt. %based on the weights of solids in the feedstock composition; b.gasifying the feedstock composition together with the oxidant in agasification zone to produce a syngas composition; and c. discharging atleast a portion of the syngas composition from the gasifier; andproducing an organic compound from said syngas composition wherein thegasifier is an entrained flow gasifier, and wherein the gasifier doesnot employ a plasma process.
 2. A process for the production of syngascomprising: a. charging an oxidant and a feedstock composition to agasification zone within a gasifier, said feedstock compositioncomprising a solid fossil fuel and comprising plastics wherein 90 wt. %of the plastics have a particle size in the largest dimension of notmore than 2 mm; b. gasifying the feedstock composition together with theoxidant in a gasification zone to produce a syngas composition; and c.discharging at least a portion of the syngas composition from thegasifier; and producing an organic compound from said syngas compositionwherein the gasifier is an entrained flow gasifier, and wherein thegasifier does not employ a plasma process.
 3. A process for theproduction of syngas comprising: a. charging an oxidant and a feedstockslurry composition to a gasification zone within a gasifier, saidfeedstock slurry composition comprising plastics, a solid fossil fuel,and water, wherein either (i) the plastics are present in an amount upto 25 wt. % based on the weight of the solids in the feedstock slurry or(ii) 90 wt. % of the plastics have a particle size in the largestdimension of not more than 2 mm; b. gasifying the feedstock compositiontogether with the oxidant in a gasification zone to produce a syngascomposition; and c. discharging at least a portion of the syngascomposition from the gasifier, and producing an organic compound fromsaid syngas composition wherein the gasifier does not employ a plasmaprocess, and wherein at least one of the following conditions ispresent: (i) gasification within the gasification zone is conducted at atemperature of at least 1000° C., or (ii) the pressure within thegasification zone greater than 2.7 MPa, or (iii) the feedstockcomposition is a slurry, or (iv) no steam is introduced to the gasifierthat flows into the gasification zone, or (v) the plastics arepre-ground such that at least 90% of the particles have a particle sizeof less than 2 mm, or (vi) the tar yield is less than 4 wt. %, or (vii)the gasifier contains no membrane wall in the gasification zone, or(viii) a combination of two or more of the above conditions.
 4. Theprocess according to claim 1 wherein said organic compound comprisesacetic acid, methanol, methyl acetate, acetate, acetic anhydride, C2-C5oxygenated compounds, formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, MTBE, oxo products,aldehydes, or isobutene.
 5. The process of claim 4, wherein thefeedstock is a slurry.
 6. The process of claim 5, wherein the amount ofcarbon dioxide generated by gasifying said feedstock composition andsaid oxidant is no more than 25% of the amount of carbon dioxidegenerated by gasifying a solid fossil fuel only feedstock and saidoxidant.
 7. The process of claim 6, wherein the ratio of carbonmonoxide/hydrogen generated by gasifying said feedstock composition andsaid oxidant is within 10% of the ratio of carbon monoxide/hydrogengenerated by gasifying a solid fossil fuel only feedstock and saidoxidant.
 8. The process of claim 1, wherein said solid fossil fuelcomprises coal, pet-coke, or a combination thereof.
 9. The process ofclaim 8, wherein said plastics comprise at least 70 wt. % truck and/orbus plastics, based on the weight of the plastics in said feedstockcomposition.
 10. The process of claim 9, wherein the plastics do notreceive a thermal treatment prior to their introduction into thegasification zone or their introduction to one or more components of afeedstock stream, wherein the thermal treatment is to subject theplastics to a temperature above 150° C.
 11. The process of claim 10,wherein no part of the feedstock stream is torrefied, and no part of thesolids in the feedstock stream were torrefied prior their use in thefeedstock stream.
 12. The process of claim 11, wherein the averagecontent of elements other than carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, andsulfur, in the plastics is at least 0.5 wt. % and does not exceed 10 wt.%.
 13. The process of claim 12, wherein the plastics are ground intopre-ground plastic particles prior to addition to the fossil fuel(s).14. The process of claim 13, wherein the pre-ground plastic particlesare added to a solid fossil fuel grinder or to a belt containing afossil fuel feeding the grinder.
 15. The process of claim 14, whereinthe pre-ground plastic particles in the feedstock composition or as fedto or combined with a solid are not more than 2 mm.
 16. The process ofclaim 15, wherein the pre-ground plastic particles after having beenprocessed through all grinders have a bulk density within 150% of thebulk density of the fossil fuel after having been processed through allgrinders; wherein bulk densities are measured after having beenprocessed through all grinders and before compaction of the pre-groundplastic particles or the fossil fuel.
 17. The process of claim 16,wherein the maximum particle size of the pre-ground plastic particlesafter having been processed through all grinders is within 50%, of themaximum particle size of the fossil fuel after having been processedthrough all grinders.
 18. The process of claim 1, wherein saidgasification process operates at an autogenous temperature in a steadystate operation.
 19. The process of claim 1, wherein said gasificationprocess does not apply external energy sources to heat the gasificationzone.
 20. The process of claim 1, wherein all sources of carbon fuel arefed to the gasifier in only one stream, and said feedstock comprisessolids and liquids, wherein said liquids consist essentially of waterand optional viscosity modifiers and pH modifiers.
 21. The process ofclaim 1, wherein all sources of carbon fuel are fed to the gasifier inonly one stream.
 22. The process of claim 1, wherein the gasifier is asingle stage reactor.
 23. The process of claim 1, wherein the plastic isrecycled plastic